The Devil's Fruit
by Kasek
Summary: Intro: "I take you guys out for meat all the time, so I thought it was high time you had some fruit!" "Er, Asuma-sensei... are you sure this is safe to eat?" Naruto One Piece crossover. Starts out Team Ten centric-ish, but focus shifts.
1. Chapter 1

**The Devil's Fruit**

**Kasek: **A request that started to bug me... Don't get your hopes up for an epic story, I'm already working on one (or is it two? BLEACHed isn't far enough along, and it's been forever since I worked on it... Do not worry, I'm still working on Kitsu Kitsu no Mi, at the very least). I guess I'll just make snippets of this here and there. _I have no idea why I'm posting this. animefan11950, I hope you're happy with yourself._

Intro: "I take you guys out for meat all the time, so I thought it was high time you had some fruit!" "Er, Asuma-sensei... are you sure this is safe to eat?"

**Disclaimer:** **I do own neither Naruto nor One Piece.**

Shikamaru stared at the strange fruit that Asuma had brought them to eat for a snack. Asuma looked rather proud of himself. "Of course it's safe to eat, the guy who sold them to me assured me that it would only help your growth as a ninja. One bite is all you need to become stronger!"

Shikamaru grabbed the red pineapple with yellow swirls. "I don't know... it doesn't look... natural, to me."

Ino narrrowed her eyes at it. "Yeah... it's like... it just gives off this creepy aura..."

Chouji stared at it hungrily. "Oh, come on, you guys. Worst comes to worst, you might get a stomachache."

Shikamaru sighed. "Alright, I might as well take a bite...how troublesome." He took out a kunai and sliced a piece off of his pineapple, and took a bite out of the inside. He nearly choked when he accidentally swallowed from the shock of the bad taste, but it made it's way down his throat. "Okay, I am not taking another bite of this thing."

Asuma chuckled. "The bad taste is a sign that it's healthy for you."

Chouji rubbed his stomach. "I want a piece now..."

Shikamaru tossed him the mysterious pineapple. "Here, you can have it."

Chouji happily took a piece off with a kunai and chomped on it. His eyes widened, but he managed to chew and swallow. Tears were in his eyes as he turned to Ino. "Hey, it's not half-bad..."

Ino glared at her chubby teammate. "I saw that! You think it tastes horrible!"

Chouji crossed his arms. "My mom says that bad-tasting fruits and veggies either are really good for you, or are just rotten... and it certainly doesn't _look_ rotten."

Ino sighed, and she too took a piece and ate it. Unlike Shikamaru, she actually _did_ choke on it. Asuma quickly performed the 'Heimlich no Jutsu' on her, quickly forcing her to spit it up. She coughed for a minute before glaring at it. "That... is the most _disgusting_ piece of fruit I've ever had! I refuse to try to eat another piece!"

Asuma sighed. "So, Chouji, Shikamaru, feel any different?"

Chouji's stomach grumbled. "Actually, I just feel hungrier..."

Shikamaru yawned. "I think it was a waste of time." He kneeled down, and began tracing his hand on the ground.

Asuma frowned. "Aw, man... I paid quite a bit for that fruit, too..."

Ino crossed her arms. "I think you got swindled, Asuma-sensei."

Shikamaru's eyes widened when his finger came into contact with his shadow- it had actually stopped. Curious, he kept pushing, harder and harder, until the shadow actually began to _move_, his finger never actually being covered in darkness. He began wondering if he could repeat this phenomena with someone else, and shuffled over to Asuma's shadow, and poked its pants. True to form, the pants of the shadow began pressing inwards as Shikamaru pressed against it, until...

"What the? What was that?" Shikamaru looked at his sensei, who was looking around rather agitatedly. Shikamaru frowned, and poked the shadow again, this time much harder. "Ow! What the heck?" He looked down at Shikamaru, and frowned. "Did you just do that?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "I... _think_ so... let me try again." Shikamaru poked once more, and Asuma flinched yet again.

Asuma was shocked. "Is that some new Nara-style jutsu? I've never heard of it..."

Shikamaru shook his head again. "No... it's not a jutsu... I'm not using any chakra..." Shikamaru reached down to his own shadow, and actually grabbed it. He pulled, and all present were shocked when his shadow came up with his hand, round, lighter-colored dots for eyes on its face. Shikamaru pulled on it until it was fully erect, not to mention detached from his body, and let go, letting it stand there freely. He began walking around it, which further shocked all present- one of the laws of physics was that shadows had to stay on the opposite side of their owners from the sun, which this shadow was not doing.

Shikamaru examined it carefully, poking and prodding it. "Huh... it's some physical manifestation of darkness... interesting. I've seen my dad use a jutsu that could make his shadow turn into needles to pierce the enemy, but this..." He blinked. Wait a second... it _was_ his shadow. He furrowed his brow in concentration, and the shadow actually raised its right hand. The shadow then raised its left leg. And then, surprising everyone yet again, the shadow began doing the Robot.

Ino stared at it for a second before bursting out in laughter. "The... the Robot! Hahaha... I never thought I'd see _you_ of all people doing the Robot!"

Shikamaru frowned. "To be technical, it's my shadow that's doing it... so, it looks like I can control my shadow... I wonder to what extent..." He furrowed his brow again, and the shadow slowly morphed into what looked like an all-black deer, that lowered its head and pawed the ground while facing Ino.

Ino took a step back. "Sh-Shikamaru! Stop trying to scare me!"

Shikamaru smirked. "Scare you, huh?" The shadow bulged, and then all of a sudden burst into a myriad of small round balls, which quickly sprouted bat-wings and little points for ears. They began swarming around Ino, who could feel the occasional wing beat against her skin. As Ino curled up into a ball to protect herself, Asuma scowled. "Shikamaru! Stop scaring Ino!"

The bats flew to Shikamaru's side, and reformed into his shadow, which stood next to Shikamaru at attention. "Alright, alright, geez... Hey, you think that fruit did this?"

Asuma rubbed his beard. "You know, it might have been... Chouji, do you have this power too?"

Chouji quickly tried to grab his own shadow, but only managed to grab a tuft of grass instead. "N-no... doesn't look like it..."

They heard a creepy laugh. "Kehehe... so, you actually took a bite, did you?" Team Ten quickly turned to the source of the voice- a tall young man (at around six feet tall, he looked to be right at the turning point between boy and man) with brown hair, eyes narrowed to the point you couldn't see anything, and a grey winter jacket with blue jeans. He wore regular black and white sneakers, and white gloves on his hands. "Heh... you, boy, are now a master of shadows..."

Asuma took a fighting stance. "You... you tricked me!"

The boy/young man laughed again. "Did I? I promised that eating such a 'healthy' fruit would allow the eater to become a better shinobi, didn't I? His mastery of shadows will make him a formidable ninja, indeed! Though, I'd avoid water if I were you..."

Shikamaru glared at him, and his shadow took a fighting stance, as well. "What was with the fruit?"

The young man took a sudden interest in his hand. "I'm sure you've heard the expression 'eat of the Devil's fruit', right? That, boy, was an Akuma no Mi... particularly, the Kage Kage no Mi. One bite, and you gain a lot of power, for the mere cost of your ability to swim."

Shikamaru sighed. "Well, I never did like water much, anyways... I prefer looking at the clouds. So, I assume that there is power only in that one bite, right? Chouji doesn't have this power even though he took a bite, too..."

The young man tilted his head, a smile on his face. "Why, yes, that is correct."

Ino decided to speak up. "Wh-what is your purpose? Why would you give Asuma-sensei such a fruit?"

He glanced at her, causing her to shiver in fright- there was something not... _right_ about this guy, that's what Ino felt. "I like to watch interesting things happen... trust me, you aren't the only person I've given such a fruit to... nor will you be the last. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out how to make someone else eat one of these..."

Shikamaru growled. "Wait!" His shadow transformed into the bats again, and flew straight towards their antagonist.

He smiled again. "Oh, you've already mastered it to this level? My, my... I can't wait to see how you advance." He disappeared, and reappeared behind Shikamaru. "You know, I just realized I never gave you my name. I'm Yuumei Akira. And you?"

Shikamaru was stunned, and slowly turned to face Akira. "N-Nara Shikamaru."

Akira nodded. "Well, Shikamaru... I'll see you again someday. Ja ne!" With that, he disappeared.

Shikamaru's shadow bats returned to the ground beside Shikamaru, his shadow forming where it would naturally be. Shikamaru gulped. "So, uh... what now?"

**Kasek: **No idea why I'm posting this. Whatever you do, _don't get your hopes up_.

Also, send in character+fruit ideas (say, Chouji with the Baku Baku no Mi), I might end up using them. Unlike my other story, where the One Piece-verse also applies, in this fic, the Naruto-verse is the only verse, so any fruit will do (besides, I don't feel like making up more fruit for this story, too).


	2. Chapter 2

**Devil's Fruit 2**

**Kasek: **So, yeah, no clue why I'm doing this at all. Help me ToT

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece**

Shikamaru stared at the brown-haired bandit that they had tied up. "Alright, talk- where's your leader?"

The bandit sneered. "Heh! You think I'll tell a punk like you?"

His blond-haired partner nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah!"

It was their first C-rank mission- take out some bandits that had been bothering a town. Apparently, their leader could appear and disappear at will. It was simple enough to take out the actual bandit group itself, especially since Shikamaru's shadow powers made him a force to be reckoned with. He had taken down a sizable portion of the bandits- Asuma had taken out another good portion, and Chouji had done his fair share, as well. Ino managed to take out two bandits, and it made her wish that she, too, had offensive jutsus like her teammates. Her thoughts briefly flickered to the power made available by the Akuma no Mi- briefly, anyways. At the end, only two bandits were still conscious, and they were both tied up.

Asuma cracked his knuckles. "Oh? Care to reconsider?"

The first bandit looked like he was holding back a chuckle as the shade of a cloud fell over him. "Do your worst! I've got nothing left to lose!"

The blond one actually did chuckle. "Yeah, yeah!"

Shikamaru put his hand to his chin in thought. "Nothing, eh?" He reached down, and grabbed the man's faint shadow. He lifted it up into the air like it was nothing, and took out a kunai. The man stared at him wide-eyed.

"H-hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Shikamaru seemed to smirk. "Science. I want to see what happens when you remove a shadow from its owner." Shikamaru knew nothing happened when he did it to himself, but others' shadows seemed to act differently from his own. He brought the kunai to the stretch of shadow that was below the shadow's feet.

The bandit gulped. "Fine! See if I care! It's just a shadow, I can live without it!"

Shikamaru shrugged. "As you wish." He sliced the kunai through the shadow, and in an instant, all shade underneath the man disappeared. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his body went limp. Shikamaru stared at him. "Remind me to try to do that to people in the future so I can end fights quicker."

A moment later, the cloud went away, and revealed the shining sun. All present were deeply suprised when the man suddenly burst into flames. His partner was obviously panicking. "Get him off of me! Get him off of me!"

Shikamaru turned to the shadow that he had in his hands and let go. It just stood there, looking at him curiously. Shikamaru growled. "Don't just stand there! You're his shadow, go back to where you belong! Quickly!"

The shadow nodded, and melted into the ground, returning the patch of earth immediately underneath the flaming bandit. The flames disappeared, and the man's form seemed unharmed. The blond gulped. "I'll... I'll talk!"

--

They soon found the leader, sitting at a campfire outside of a cave. His hair was brown with spikes, and he had an eyepatch over his right eye. A long scar ran down the right side of his face, going under the eyepatch and presumably through where a working eye had once been. He grinned as he saw them. "Ah! It looks like my antics have caught the attention of someone higher up than the local authorities... good, good. With my abilities, I want to become famous! Beating some shinobi ought to help me with that..."

Asuma took out his trench knives, and stepped out in front of his Genin. "Give up. You may have a chance of beating one or two Genin, but you've got three Genin _and_ a Jonin after you. A mere bandit has no hope of beating us."

The man's grin widened. "We'll just see about that!" He got up, and dashed towards Asuma. "Let's see how the powers that Yuumei guy gave me help me against a Jonin!"

Shikamaru's eyes widened as the man raised his fist for a right hook to Asuma's face. "Sensei! Look out!" Asuma braced himself for what he had heard about- the man's ability to disappear and reappear at will. Right on cue, before the punch flew, the man disappeared. Asuma tensed. _Where did he go?_

After a minute, Ino's gasp alerted him that he had reappeared, and was about to turn around when he felt something hit the back of his neck- hard. As darkness enveloped his senses, he swore to himself. _How could I be so... careless..._

Shikamaru growled as his shadow reached up and grabbed the man's legs. "Hey! You think you're going to get away with that?!?"

The man smirked, before disappearing again. Shikamaru thought he saw... no, that couldn't have been right, could it?

After another tense minute, the bandit appeared behind Ino and knocked her out, as well. Her last thoughts were: _I wish... I was stronger than this..._ Shikamaru's shadow shot towards the man, raising its arm for a right hook. Again, though, the man disappeared. Shikamaru's eyes widened when he saw it. _I knew it! _He turned to Chouji. "Chouji! This guy's technique... it's the opposite of your _Baika no Jutsu_! He's shrinking himself!"

Chouji smirked. "Shrinking, huh? Then how about I just enlarge myself! _Baika no Jutsu!" _Chouji's body expanded, turning him into approximately the size and shape of a wrecking ball. His head and limbs retracted into his rotund body, and chakra seemed to pour out from the openings in his clothes. He began spinning at high speeds, and soon, he was rolling around the battlefield, trying to run over his opponent. The bandit, scared by Chouji's large size, resumed normal form in hope of dodging his opponent better. However, Shikamaru's shadow shot out, and, well, overshadowed the man's shadow.

His eyes widened as he realized his situation. "Hey, I can't move! What gives?!"

Shikamaru smirked. "It's a variation on Konohagakure's _Kagemane no jutsu. _I call it _Kage Kugetsu_. Instead of forcing my opponent to mimic whatever movement I make..." The man involuntarily rose his right arm. "...I can make them do whatever I want them to. Like so." The man's left arm rose also, and in one swift movement, his hands closed around his own throat. The man's glare was venomous as he focused his vision- and his hatred- on Shikamaru. Soon, though, his eyes rolled up into his head, and his hands removed themselves from his throat, allowing him to breathe now that he was unconscious. Shikamaru's shadow returned to its owner, and the man collapsed onto the ground. Chouji walked up next to Shikamaru, and put a hand on his shoulder, grinning. Shikamaru smirked. "Mission, complete."

--

**Kasek: **This guy's power is a result of the Mini Mini no Mi. You can look it up, there's actually a fruit called that, it's from some game.

_Kage Kugetsu_ was originally called _Kage Kakumei, _but I thought 'Shadow Puppet' was a more appropriate term than 'Shadow Revolution'.

You know, I have no clue who Akira is, what he's up to, or where he's getting these fruits... I'm a bad, bad author. Or maybe I do know, and I'm just pulling you around :3 For the moment, at least, he's just a catalyst for the story, a tool of the author's will.


	3. Chapter 3

**Devil's Fruit 3**

**Kasek: **New chapter... sorry to disappoint, but Shikamaru won't be showing up for this chapter. Team Ten will show up for a bit in the next chapter, but not this one. The new focus: Sasuke.

Also, the chapters for this fic are remarkably shorter than I usually do... they just turn out that way, I suppose.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece.**

Sasuke pounded on the training log in front of him. Why... was he... so... _weak_? Sure, he had his Sharingan now... but... The white mask seemed to float into his vision again. He punched at it, causing the wood behind it to splinter severely. He took some of the splinters out of his now bleeding hand as he thought out loud. "I'm an Uchiha... I should never... _lose..."_

"Then how would you like to gain... power?"

Sasuke turned, and found himself facing Yuumei Akira- not that he knew who he was. "Who are you?! What do you want?!"

Akira smiled. "I'm someone who is interested in making people stronger..." He held up the yellow apple in his possesion. "All you have to do is take a bite out of this fruit... this Goro Goro no Mi... and you'll gain the power of a god. A god of lightning, to be specific."

Sasuke was naturally suspicious. "What do you gain from this?"

Akira's smile didn't waver. "Why, a more interesting world. I want to see what the people of this world do with these powers."

Sasuke took a step forward. "And... shouldn't such power... come at a price?"

Akira frowned in as cute a manner as he could muster. "Oh... there is the small price of never being able to swim again, but... I'm sure you could get over that, right?"

Sasuke took another step forward, and then another, and the process repeated itself until Sasuke found himself right in front of Akira. "It's just the ability to swim, right? Lots of people can't swim..." Akira's smile resumed being on his face.

"Well?"

Sasuke took the fruit from his hand, and took a good look at it. He smirked, and took a bite out of it. His eyes widened as he tried to cope with the taste, and he swallowed it immediately. He dropped the fruit, and raised his right hand. It sparkled with electricity for a minute, and he smirked again as he pointed his finger at Akira. A bolt of lightning traveled from his finger, through Akira, and burnt a tree far behind him. Akira looked down at the hole in his chest, frowning slightly. "My, my... you're the first one to try out their new powers on me. But... unfortunately for you, I, too, have the powers of a god... a god of ice, to be exact." Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw ice grow over the wound, and then disappear, and it was as if the hole in his clothes and skin had never existed.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "You can... regenerate your wounds?"

Akira shook his head. "No... there was no wound in the first place. I turned that part of my body into ice, which shattered as the lightning traveled through it. And then, I just regrew the ice, and turned it back into my normal body. You can do such a thing with your body, you know..."

Sasuke looked at his hand, and after a moment, it turned into a mass of electricity, chirping like a thousand birds. Sasuke smirked. "I could get used to this..."

Akira smiled again, tilting his head. "Good! Well, I've got places to go, people to curse. Ja ne!" Sasuke's eyes widened when he disappeared. _I have got to learn how to do that... I think they teach it to you when you reach a certain rank in this village... well, with these powers of mine, I won't have any trouble at all getting whatever rank I want!_

--

It was the day of the Chunin Exams. Sasuke, before proceeding to the room where they were to take the first part of the exams, was called out by Rock Lee, a taijutsu specialist wanting to test his might against an Uchiha. Sasuke smirked as he faced Lee. "Bring it... I'll show you... what I can really do." His Sharingan activated, two tomoe seals in each eye.

Lee nodded, and charged Sasuke, raising his fist for a punch. He brought the fist to Sasuke's face, who didn't move an inch. Lee soon found out why when Sasuke's head turned bright blue, and when his fist made contact with Sasuke's head, electricity coursed throughout his body, stopping him where he was, while Sasuke didn't even flinch. Lee fell to the ground, and rolled in pain. "Owowowowowow! What was that?!?"

Sakura seemed worried. "Sasuke, what was that? You've never used a technique like that before!"

Naruto grit his teeth. _Shoot! He's gotten even stronger, while I'm..._

Lee got back up, and looked Sasuke in the eyes. "Why you...!" He tried to punch Sasuke in the chest, but then the area around where he was going to connect turned bright blue, and there was a distinct chirping sound. Lee's fist actually went _through_ Sasuke, and again, electricity coursed throughout his body, burning him. He took his hand out, and glared at Sasuke, while panting heavily. "What... _are _you?"

Sasuke smirked. "This power... is the power of a god.... you have no hope to defeat it..."

Naruto growled. "That's a pretty arrogant thing to say..."

Sasuke turned to his teammate as his Sharingan deactivated. "Whatever... let's just go."

"I'm not done yet!"

Sasuke wasn't able to turn into electricity in time as Lee kicked him in the chin, sending him high into the air. Lee appeared underneath him as he arced through the air. "I _will_ defeat you!"

However, something unexpected happened- Sasuke turned into a bolt of lightning, which traveled to the far side of the room and back, and then Sasuke was all of a sudden under Lee. He touched a finger to Lee's back as they flew through the air. "Sorry... I don't feel like losing today."

Lee's yells of pain were heard well down the halls connected to the large room they were in. Neji turned to the source of the noise. "Tenten, let's go get Lee..." Tenten slowly nodded, not comprehending that Lee could possibly lose to someone other than Neji.

When they arrived at the scene, they saw Sakura holding a severly burned Lee in her arms as Sasuke looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Why did you save him? You should've just let him fall."

Sakura couldn't believe she was actually _glaring_ at Sasuke. "Are you crazy? He could've been killed!"

Sasuke began walking towards the exit. "Yeah, yeah..."

Neji glared at him, his Byakugan activating, the blood vessels around his eyes bulging. "What did you do to my teammate, Uchiha?"

Sasuke glanced towards Neji. "Oh... Hyuuga. Well, I'm an Uchiha, and he's a loser. Do the math."

Tenten appeared next to Sakura and Lee, and looked at Lee closely. "Neji! He's got burns all over his body!"

Neji's gaze didn't flicker from Sasuke. "Not just on the outside... on the inside, as well. You can't do that with the fire that the Uchiha are famous for... You'll pay for this one day, Uchiha; just not today. Tenten, we're leaving. We can't take the exams with Lee like this."

Tenten nodded. "R-right..." She turned back to Sakura. "You mind handing him to me?"

Sakura seemed reluctant to do so, but did anyways. Tenten grabbed Lee by the shoulders, and began shaking him violently. "OI! LEE! WAKE UP ALREADY!"

Lee's eyes fluttered open. "Huh? Tenten? What... happened? I was flying through tthe air with Sasuke, and..."

Tenten sighed. "As far as I can tell, Sasuke knocked you unconscious, and then Sakura caught you before you hit the ground... how did you get so badly burned?"

Sakura spoke up for Lee. "Sasuke... has some weird power I've never seen before. It's like... he can _become_ electricity. Lee got injured just trying to touch him..."

Neji stared at Sasuke. "She's right. His body... is overflowing with electricity."

Sasuke's eyebrow twitched. "Are you guys going to leave, or not? We've got an exam to take."

Lee's eyes widened in panic. "The exams! I've got to-!" He tried to get up, but stumbled. Tenten caught him before he hit the ground.

"Lee, you're too injured to take the exams... we've got to get you to a hospital, you're injured both outside and in."

Lee nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, guys... I only wanted to test my strength... I didn't mean to-"

Tenten cut him off. "Don't worry about it... that just means we'll be even stronger when we do take the exams."

Lee nodded again, and turned to Sakura. "Sakura... I'm sorry... I promised I would protect you, but... I must have looked so weak to you... not only that, you ended up protecting _me..._"

Sakura tried to smile. "Don't worry about it Lee... look, I'll see you again sometime, alright? I really need to go if I'm to take the exams..."

Lee actually did smile. "I'd... I'd like that... good luck, though it looks like you probably won't need it..."

As Team Gai left the room, Sasuke grit his teeth. "Can we _please_ get on with these exams now?"

**Kasek: **No clue as to why I gave Sasuke something as all powerful as the Goro Goro no Mi... I'll have to give _somebody_ the Gomu Gomu no Mi at one point, I suppose... maybe Lee? Just putting that out there. If you want anybody to have a specific fruit, ask, and you _may_ receive.


	4. Chapter 4

**Kasek: **And thus ends the pre-written chapters of this... whatchamacallit. No more daily updates for you! STILL no clue as to why I'm doing this... at least I have a reasonable explanation for what the Akuma no Mi are doing in this world, who Akira is, and stuffs. Also, ideas for who gets what fruit would be nice.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece**

Shikamaru sighed as some fellow Genin hung from the air, his shadow holding them by their feet from above with its arms-turned-tentacles. "Great... _another _Heaven scroll... that's the second one we've found... where's an Earth scroll when you need one?"

Chouji munched on some chips. "I don't know... what do you think we should do with the two spares we've got?"

Ino was examining the blade of her sword, its sheath on her back. She had been feeling insufficient in the offensive department, and so had gotten herself the blade, and had trained with it day and night. She wasn't good enough to be called a swordswoman, but with her already good grasp of taijutsu, it was all she needed to dispatch her enemies. She looked up from the reflective surface of the blade. "Well, we could always use them to appease anybody we don't feel like dealing with..."

Shikamaru sighed. "Whatever... this whole exam thing is so troublesome..."

--

Orochimaru glared at his prey as he examined his burned hand. "That level of nature manipulation... how did you manage to acheive it at such a young age?"

Sasuke smirked as he readied to battle with the great Sannin- not that he knew who his opponent was. "Call it... a gift, you Naruto impersonator."

Orochimaru smirked as he took out a Heaven scroll. "Hey, you want this, right? Since you guys have an Earth scroll..." He placed the scroll over his mouth, and he somehow managed to swallow it. "Well, you'll have to take it from my dead body if you want it... kukukukuku...." He put his finger right below his eye and pulled on the skin, and all of a sudden Sasuke and Sakura were paralyzed with fear. Orochimaru's bloodlust was so tangible that they could practically _see _their deaths already.

Sasuke grit his teeth as he tried to move, but he couldn't. Orochimaru picked up two kunai, and threw them at the two Genin. As the kunai moved towards him and Sakura, Sasuke willed his body to turn into electricity, and it did. He then willed for lightning to intercept the two kunai, which also happened, striking them out of the air. Orochimaru was more than surprised. "You... how could you move after that?"

Sasuke grit his electric teeth. "Still trying to, actually..." Eventually, his right leg twitched, and then his left leg, and he was finally able to move again. He reverted into his normal form, and collapsed to the ground, panting. He turned to Sakura. "Sakura, are you-" He paused. Sakura was just staring into emptiness, tears going down her cheeks. He turned back to Orochimaru. "You... you're no Genin, are you..."

Orochimaru smirked. "Well, your powers aren't exactly Genin-level, either..."

Sasuke smirked back at him. "I'll show you what I can really do!" The lower half of Sasuke's body turned into electricity, and he faced Orochimaru. Orochimaru blinked, and found himself regretting it when Sasuke managed to disappear during the small opening Orochimaru had allowed him.

"Where did he...?" He got his answer when a scalding hot kunai was poked into his backside. "Ah! Why you little-!" He turned to face Sasuke- who was no longer there. "What the-?!?" The kunai again made its way into his backside, and, again, it was scalding hot. Orochimaru lashed out at Sasuke, who jumped back and avoided the blow. Orochimaru scowled as he observed electricity enveloping the kunai. "How are you traveling that fast?"

Sasuke's lower half glowed blue once more. "It's called the speed of lightning. I can convert any part of my body into electricity, and use that to my advantage." The glow faded, and he raised his left arm and pointed it towards Orochimaru. "As you saw earlier, I can also shoot lightning from my body. Now, I ask you- do you feel lucky? Do you think you can dodge this next attack, into which I will pour as much energy as I can?"

Orochimaru bit his thumb and ran through some handsigns. "If I apply a proper defense, then I won't need to dodge..." He placed his hand on the ground, and a gigantic metal gate with the face of a demon applied to it rose inbetween Orochimaru and Sasuke. "Rashomon!"

Sasuke smirked. "Yeah, let's see if that works..." His hand sparkled with electricity, before an enormous amount of electrical energy spread out from his hand in a gigantic beam that raced straight towards the gigantic gate. Orochimaru smirked as he saw the energy split around the gate, obliterating everything in its path. Soon, the beam died down, and the gate disappeared in a great poof of smoke. As the smoke cleared, Orochimaru scowled at a chuckling Sasuke.

"What's so funny? You ought to be out of chakra by now... you can't do a repeat performance."

Sasuke seemed to genuinely smile as he laughed. "Who said... _anything_ about these powers being chakra-based?"

Orochimaru stared at him like he was nuts. "You... you're serious..."

Sasuke pointed his arm to his left, and another giant beam came out. When it died down, you could see a giant hole in every tree that had been in the way. He pointed it back at Orochimaru. "I could do this all day..."

Orochimaru gulped. "W-wait! I'll give you the scroll! Just don't kill me!" He opened his mouth wide, and the scroll seemed to come out on its own. He grabbed it, and tossed it towards Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked. "There... that wasn't so hard, now was it?" He picked it up, rather disturbed that it was covered in juices of some sort or another, but it was otherwise intact. He quickly placed it in his waist pouch. He turned to Sakura, who was able to move a bit by now, and gave a thumbs-up. Sakura's eyes widened.

"Sasuke, look out!"

Sasuke turned around quickly, making sure to convert his entire body into electricity. What greeted him was the sight of an _extremely _long-necked Orochimaru trying to bite his neck, which failed because Sasuke was immaterial at the moment. Orochimaru screamed in pain as electricity coursed throughout his body, and he soon collapsed, his long neck retracting his head back to its normal position. Sasuke sighed. "Good that that's finally over... now, I wonder where Naruto went..."

**Kasek:** I make these short, because that's the way they come out.

Give me ideas for how you want the preliminaries to go. If I don't hear suggestions, I'm going to just make them go as they would have, minus the fights that would've gone against Team Gai, of course. Hmmm.... Gaara VS Hinata, anyone? **That** will tick Naruto off, to be sure.


	5. Chapter 5

**Kasek:** This one is a bit longer than the other chapters... thanks to DtecnoKira with a little bit of inspiration with this chapter.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece.**

Shikamaru looked around at all of the shinobi who had made it past the second round of the Chunin Exams. There were Teams 7, 8, and 10 from Konoha, that Kabuto guy's team, a team from Suna, and a team from Oto. If he was lucky, there would be no one with any weird powers like his... but knowing his luck, Akira had probably cursed at least one of the other competitors here, which was obviously a very bad thing.

The Sandaime Hokage gave some speech about the exams, and then revealed that they were going to have some battles to thin out their numbers for the third exam. The first match was some guy named Akado Yoroi VS Uchiha Sasuke. The poor sap didn't stand a chance- Sasuke simply pointed his finger at him, and a bolt of lightning shot out and hit him through the heart. He was experiencing heart failure when the medics removed him from the arena.

The second match was Aburame Shino VS Zaku Abumi. Zaku was hopelessly out-classed; Shino maneuvered his bugs with great efficiency, and even sneaked them into the airholes in Zaku's palms before he fired off a shot, which tore one arm off and nearly took the other when it backfired. Shikamaru shuddered at the sight, and decided that Shino was not one to be trifled with. The third fight was Tsurigi Misumi VS Kankuro. At first it looked like Misumi had won when he wrapped himself around Kankuro and snapped his neck... until 'Kankuro' turned out to be 'Karasu', Kankuro's wooden puppet. Poor Misumi had a lot of his bones crushed.

Fourth was Ino VS Sakura. Sakura had some neat tricks, but eventually Ino managed to stab her- a couple of times, actually- and Sakura soon fainted from the pain and blood loss. As Sakura was removed from the battlefield, he heard Ino say something about Sakura being 'still just a bud'.

The fifth match was Temari VS Kabuto- Kabuto used a Doton jutsu to get underground to avoid Temari's attacks, and then snuck up behind her and cut her Achilles tendons, and then held a kunai to her neck, causing her to admit defeat.

The sixth match was his own. He had to fight a girl named Kin Tsuchi, whom he immediately labeled as 'troublesome'. After she threw a couple of needles at him, he launched his shadow at her, possessed her shadow, and did the old 'Stop hitting yourself' gag before knocking her out by hitting her head on the wall.

The seventh match caught Shikamaru's attention. While the majority of the match was, admittedly, worthwhile to watch, it was what happened after Naruto pulled off his 'Uzumaki Naruto Rendan' that things really got eye-catching.

Kiba coughed as he slowly got up. "Heh... you're a better opponent than I thought you were, Naruto... to make me use the power that guy gave me..."

Shikamaru's eyes widened. Chouji gripped the railing. "You don't think that he means... _that_ guy, do you?"

Shikamaru nodded. "It probably is..."

This caught Sasuke's attention, as well. _So, that guy really did give powers to other people..._

Naruto frowned. "What power? You're totally exhausted, there's no way that you can still fight!"

Kiba smirked. "Want to bet?" He bared his teeth, and everyone watched in morbid fascination as he seemed to transform into some large wolf-man hybrid... a werewolf, that towered in height over Naruto.

Naruto did the first thing that came to mind. Panic. "Ahhhhh! Werewolves are real!"

Kiba smirked. "This is a special power of mine... and you're going to see what it can do." Kiba disappeared, which seemed impossible for such a large creature, and reappeared right in front of Naruto. Kiba hit him in the stomach with his knee, lifting Naruto into the air, and then he spun around and kicked Naruto hard enough to send him to the opposite wall. Naruto had the breath knocked out of him when he hit it, and as he stood up, he was gasping for air. Kiba appeared in front of him again and picked him up by the head, and held him high in front of him. He let go, and as Naruto fell, Kiba punched him in the stomach, sending him skirting across the floor, like a stone across the water.

Naruto managed to get back up on his hands and knees, and some bile escaped his throat. Kiba smirked again as he slowly walked towards Naruto. "Do you realize now? The difference between you and me? You're the Dead Last, Naruto. You always have been, and you _always_ _will be_."

Hinata had her hand over her mouth, and it looked like she was about to cry. "Na-Naruto... Don't give up, Naruto!"

Kiba's ears flickered when he heard that. "Oi, Hinata! Why are you cheering on this loser? He's nothing but a piece of _trash_ that calls himself a ninja!"

Naruto managed to get up, though his face was pointed towards the floor. "Kiba, there's something you should know... I never give up... I never stop... not, until, I WIN!"

Kiba shuddered as Naruto uttered those words. Something in the air felt... unnatural. "So that's the way it's going to be, eh? Then... I'll make sure to put you out of your misery." He stopped right in front of Naruto, and rose both of his hands over his head. "It's... OVER!" He swung his hands down, intent on bashing Naruto's head in. There was a shock-wave as fist met fists. Kiba- and just about everybody else- were shocked that Naruto had stopped Kiba's blow with one hand. Naruto reached up, grabbed Kiba's fists with his other hand, and with a great heave, performed an over-the-shoulder throw, slamming Kiba into the ground.

Naruto glared at Kiba, and if anyone could see them, his eyes were red. "Feh... guess werewolves aren't so great after all..."

Kiba rolled over, and pushed himself back up to his feet. "Just because you got lucky, doesn't mean you can diss me..." He raised his fist for another punch, but his eyes widened as he was himself punched in the stomach by Naruto, who had dashed in to Kiba's side when the opening was presented. Naruto pushed through with his punch, sending Kiba flying across the room, embedding himself in the far wall. Kiba slowly came off of the wall and fell face-down on the ground, having reverted back to his human form. The referee, Hayate, coughed as he checked Kiba to make sure he was alive, but unconscious.

"The winner of the seventh match- Uzumaki Naruto!"

Shikamaru was openly staring at Naruto. "What in the world... was _that_?"

Chouji was nearly speechless. "Did... you _feel_ what I felt?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah... an incredible amount of killing intent... I didn't know humans could produce that much... Kiba must not have been affected too much by it because he was in that werewolf form..."

The Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, let his pipe fall from his lips as he stared at the scene before him. _First, Kiba's a werewolf... and then, Naruto uses the Kyuubi no Youko's power to defeat said werewolf... and then there's the advanced techniques that Sasuke and Shikamaru were using... just what is going on around here?_

As Naruto walked back to his team, Hinata stopped him, a small container in her hand. "U-ummm.... Naruto... here's some medicinal cream for your wounds..."

Naruto was confused. "Eh? Why would you give that to me?"

Kurenai sighed. "Just... take it, Naruto."

Naruto was about to when his gaze shifted to his arm. He froze- his wounds were gone! He checked everywhere he remembered having scratches, but there were none. "Huh?! That's weird... sorry, Hinata, looks like I don't need it, hehe. Oh! Thanks for cheering for me, by the way... Kiba was kind of acting weird towards the end, don't you think?"

Hinata gulped. "W-well... you did beat up his dog..."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that does make sense... well, see you later, Hinata!" Hinata blushed even further than she had been as Naruto walked away. _Naruto... I want to be as strong as you are..._

Sasuke eyed Naruto suspiciously as he made his way back to his team. "Hey, dobe... where'd you get all that power?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know... where'd you get those lightning abilities?"

Sasuke snorted. "Touche." He wasn't about to tell them he got his powers from eating some kind of cursed fruit.

Kakashi 'eye-smiled'. "I'm also interested in where you two got those powers of yours... I have a sneaking suspicion on Naruto's part, but... you, Sasuke... you never showed hints of this ability to manipulate lightning before the exams... you're going to have to tell me where you picked it up sooner or later."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'll stick with later, thank you very much."

Hinata made her way down to where the medics were picking up Kiba and Akamaru. "U-umm... here's some cream for their wounds..."

Kiba was conscious again, surprisingly. "Hinata... be more worried about yourself. There's only three people left besides you... If you get that sand guy... forfeit immediately. You'll be killed."

Hayate coughed. "Now, we'll announce the next match..." The board flashed through the four available names quickly before settling on two- Hyuuga Hinata versus Gaara. Kiba swore under his breath.

"Do the right thing... Hinata."

Hinata's eyes narrowed. "I... won't run away. Never again."

Kiba sighed. "If that's what you want... but I don't want to attend your funeral, do you hear me?"

Hinata nodded, and made her way to the center of the arena. Hayate coughed as a whirlwind of airborne sand appeared next to him, and as it cleared, it revealed Gaara in the center of it. Naruto cheered from the balcony. "Go, Hinata! Kick his butt!"

Hinata blushed, which caused Gaara to growl. "Focus on the fight... or I _will_ kill you."

Hinata steeled her eyes. "No... I won't let you do that."

Hayate dropped his hand between them. "Eighth match, begin!"

Hinata immediately dashed at Gaara, hand raised for a palm strike. She aimed it at Gaara's head, and thrust it forward. However, sand quickly came from Gaara's gourd and got in-between Hinata's palm and Gaara's face, but as her hand made contact with the sand, it exploded backwards, resulting in Gaara's face being completely covered in sand.

Gaara growled as he tried to get the sand out of his eyes. "Why, you-!" He was interrupted when she did it again, getting sand not only in his eyes but his mouth. As he sputtered in an attempt to get the sand out of his mouth, Hinata frowned- it looked like she would need a lot more chakra to get past his defenses. She began pouring as much chakra as she could into both of her palms, and thrust them towards his chest at the same time.

Gaara seemed to freeze as the shield of sand exploded towards him when her palms connected with it, and after a moment, a small trace of red appeared in the corner of his mouth. He coughed, and blood expelled from his mouth, getting on his sand covered body. "What... is this... red stuff... it's... blood... it's... my blood! MY BLOOD!" Gaara gripped his head in agony as he stumbled backwards, landing on his rear after taking a few steps back. He coughed again, and more blood came out. "MY BLOOD! **MY BLOOD**!" The sand began spiraling around him, and after a moment, it began lashing out towards the audience, attempting to capture them and drag them towards Gaara.

Sasuke immediately released himself by charging the sand with electricity, and it exploded a moment thereafter. He quickly did the same with Naruto, though his hair became a little spikier than usual. Shikamaru protected his teammates by spreading his shadow thin and turning it into a wall. Shino, however, was caught by the sand, but his bugs quickly consumed the chakra in the sand, releasing him. It needn't be said that the Jonin were quick enough to not be caught, as was Kabuto.

Dosu and Kankuro, however, were caught by the sand, and were slowly being dragged towards Gaara. Kankuro was panicking. "Gaara! Calm down! Please, listen to your brother!"

However, Gaara was not listening. Another tendril of sand shot out and wrapped around Hinata's leg, and Hinata cried out in pain as her leg was crushed. Naruto grit his teeth as he watched. "Kaka-sensei, we've got to help her!"

Kakashi shook his head. "As long as the match is still going, we can't interfere... even if Gaara is involving us."

Hayate coughed. "Due to directly attacking the audience, Gaara forfeits this match! Winner: Hyuuga Hinata!" There was an unspoken message in his words: _Help me get this freak under control!_

Sasuke smirked. "About time..." He aimed a finger at Gaara, and a bolt of lightning shot out, piercing through the sand and enveloping Gaara in electricity. Gaara howled in pain before collapsing to the ground, all of the sand falling limp. Sasuke smirked right after he blew on his finger. "Gotta love lightning..."

However, after a moment, Gaara began stirring again. "**Hahahahahaha! I'm free, I'm free! Who should I kill first, hmm?**" His eyes- which Hinata noticed were now yellow, with a star shaped pupil and four black dots in each section of the eye- focused on Hinata. "**You look like you have great blood! Let me taste it!**" Hinata tried to shuffle away, but in vain- Gaara seemed to instantly cover the distance between them, and wrapped his hands around her throat. "**Oh, yes, I'm gonna enjoy killing a girl like you! Hahahahaha!**"

He was interrupted by a swift kick to the face from Naruto, whose eyes were red once more, and now he had grown fangs and claws. "Get your hands off of Hinata!"

Gaara growled as sand began to envelop his arm, some drool dripping out of his mouth. "**Oi! You can't just take my kill from me!**"

Naruto growled back at him. "She's not your _kill_... she's my _friend_, and I won't let you hurt her any more!"

Hinata blushed. "N-Naruto..."

Gaara lifted his sand-coverd hand, the sand shaped into a giant claw at the end. "**Feh... fine, then! I'll kill you first!**" His eyes widened when he stopped in mid-movement. "**H-hey! What's going on? Why can't I move?**"

Shikamaru smirked as he walked up next to Naruto. "It's called my _Kage Kugetsu_ jutsu... it gives me control over my opponent's body."

Gaara tried to move, but he could barely budge. "**Curse... you...**"

Shikamaru shook his head, and mumbled under his breath, "Too late for that..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

Shikamaru looked at him with a skeptical expression. "Huh? I didn't say anything."

Kakashi appeared behind Gaara and hit him in the back of the neck, hard. Gaara swore under his breath as he collapsed. Kakashi sighed in relief. "Okay, now that that's over with... can someone explain to me what's going on?"

Kankuro appeared next to him, though his left arm was bleeding quite a bit. "Gaara... is somewhat... schizophrenic. He has a murderous personality that comes out whenever he falls unconscious... that's why he has the dark rings around his eyes, he never sleeps."

Kakashi nodded- he knew there was more to it than that, but he wasn't going to press it. Naruto turned to Hinata, his body back to normal. "Hinata, are you alright?"

Hinata whimpered as she tried to move her leg. "M-my leg is... crushed, but... o-other than that, I'm fine..."

Naruto frowned. "Well, having your leg crushed does not count as 'fine'. Where are those medic guys when you need them..?"

The medics came out just as Naruto said that, carrying the injured- Hinata and Dosu- out of the arena. Naruto waved to Hinata as she was being carried out, putting a smile on her lips.

Hayate coughed into his hand again. "Well, since Dosu was injured and had to be removed to be taken care of... Chouji automatically advances to the third round." There were cheers to be heard from Team 10. "Now, as for the third exam... would everyone gather down here, please?"

Soon, the nine winners (minus Hinata) were assembled in front of Hayate, Anko and Ibiki to his sides, and the Sandaime Hokage behind him. Hayate coughed once more, annoying those who had heard him cough many a time before. "Well, there's one of you missing, but... congratulations for getting into the third round of the Chunin Exams!" After that, Hiruzen went into a speech about the true meaning of the exams. Shikamaru found the whole thing troublesome, but he listened, anyways. Hiruzen talked about how they had been fighting unknown enemies, and that for the third exam, they would be given a month to prepare to fight a known enemy. Then, that Anko lady came around with a box, and they were all told to draw pieces of paper. Shikamaru drew the number '8'.

Hiruzen then told them that they were going to participate in a tournament. The match-ups were- Naruto VS Sasuke, Hinata VS Ino, Shino VS Chouji, Shikamaru VS Kankuro, with Kabuto fighting whoever won that last round. Shikamaru brought up a valid question- would there only be one winner? Hiruzen told them that it was how they fought that would get them promoted, not whether or not they won or lost. He went on to say that all of them could become Chunin... or none of them would.

With that, they were dismissed. Shikamaru sighed. _So, now I know that Akira has cursed at least one other person here... I need to go talk to Kiba about this... I want to see if he willingly accepted that power, and why he would, and stuff... and then I should go talk to Asuma-sensei about it, too... and then, Kurenai-sensei... How troublesome..._

**Kasek: **So, what do you think of this chapter? A bit longer than the others, eh?

I'm thinking of giving someone else Devil Fruit powers... hmm. Who to give them to, who to give them to... I'm thinking Hinata, but I want to know what you think. Maybe the Hana Hana no Mi (Robin's fruit)? Naturally, I don't want _all_ of the Rookie Nine to get cursed, but... it's fun to 'improve' them.

Also, I have a couple ideas for Ino, but I'm waiting a bit before I give her one, so... I won't tell you what I'm thinking of giving her ;p

O_O I just got another idea. I'll implement it later on, when no one's looking.

Tell me what you thought of this chapter, and who you want to get what Devil Fruit, and stuff.


	6. Chapter 6

**Kasek: **The first half of this chapter is mostly filler, but I dare say the second half is worth a look, kehehe.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece**

Shikamaru sighed as he walked down the hallway of the hospital he had currently found himself in. Apparently, Kiba had been transferred here after first-aid was applied at the tower. He was surprised to see Sasuke walk out of a room in the hallway. He eyed him as Sasuke began walking alongside him. "You here to see Sakura?"

Sasuke nodded. "Something like that."

Shikamaru frowned as they kept walking. "...this isn't the way out, you know."

Sasuke nodded again. "I know. There's... someone I need to talk to. What about you? Your teammates are just fine."

Shikamaru looked up at the lights above him. "How troublesome... there's someone I need to talk to too."

They continued on in relative silence, except for the sounds their shoes made when they hit the ground. After another minute, they both stopped in front of the same door. Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "Kiba? Why are you here to see him?"

Sasuke snorted. "I could ask the same of you..."

Shikamaru uttered another 'Troublesome', and opened the door, walking in before Sasuke. Kiba looked up at his two visitors and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the oddity before him. "What brings you two balls of sunshine in to visit me and Akamaru?" Akamaru, who was in a small bed besides Kiba's, barked to show that he was, indeed, there.

Shikamaru gave a sweeping bow to Sasuke. "Why don't you go first, _oh great one_?"

Sasuke growled for a moment, and then smirked. "Ladies first."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes with an utterance of 'Troublesome.' "I'm no lady, but I'll take the offer anyways." He turned to Kiba. "You probably know what this is about, though, don't you?"

Kiba sighed. "It's about my being a werewolf, right? That guy said you two would probably question me about it."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes and turned to Sasuke. "Us... two? Sasuke... you ate one too...?"

Sasuke nodded. "So, it looks like the three of us are in this together... cursed with an inability to swim, in exchange for great power..."

Shikamaru looked between the two of them. "Don't tell me you guys _willingly_ ate those things...?"

Sasuke smirked. "Why not? The benefits outweigh the costs..."

Kiba smiled. "I was given the opportunity to become a dog, just like our dogs become humans with our jutsu... what Inuzuka in his right mind would pass up that sort of chance?"

Shikamaru snorted. "Well, he tricked me into eating mine... so, what's your power, Sasuke? Mine is power over shadows."

Sasuke raised his right eyebrow. "Ah, so that's what that weird jutsu was... mine is power over lightning. Can you turn into shadows like I can turn into lightning, or what?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "No, I've tried that... only complete control over my own shadow, and some other abilities, one of which you saw back at the preliminaries."

Kiba smirked. "Well, as you guys saw, I can turn into a werewolf, but I can also turn into a regular wolf, too. Useful for tracking purposes, I must say."

Shikamaru looked at them both. "So, did your teams know about your powers before you unveiled them back there, or not? Mine did. They were there when I ate that fruit and that Akira guy showed up to explain what it was."

Kiba's eyes narrowed a bit. "So, Akira's his name, huh? He didn't give his name to me..."

Sasuke leaned against the wall behind him. "Nor to me."

Shikamaru sighed as he shook his head. "He told me his name was Yuumei Akira. We are talking about the same guy, right? Brown hair, winter jacket with jeans and white gloves, eyes always closed, mouth always smiling?"

Kiba nodded. "Yeah, that's him, alright."

Sasuke nodded. "Same guy who gave me my fruit, that's for sure. You guys aware of what he can do?"

Kiba shook his head. "Nope. He just showed up to me while I was training by myself with Akamaru. Offered me the power, and I took it."

Shikamaru shook his head also. "I know he can _Shunshin_, but I don't know what else he can do."

Sasuke sighed as he leaned into the wall a bit harder. "He's got ice powers. Make ice, control ice... become ice. He's basically a god of ice. I tried to hit him with a lightning bolt, but he was able to turn a just-large-enough portion of his body into ice to negate it. I can do the same with my lightning powers, but... that also means I know how impossible it is to hit him without catching him by surprise."

Shikamaru groaned. "So, he's basically an invincible immortal... Just. Great."

Sasuke shrugged. "Well, if you want to fight him, yeah. Don't see any reason to."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "It's obviously his goal to curse as many people as possible. We have to prevent that. He has to have some motive for doing this.... some underlying reason as to give people the powers of gods and demons."

Kiba also shrugged. "Eh... Beats me. I wonder if he has some sort of human fruit he can give to Akamaru..."

Shikamaru grit his teeth in frustration. "You guys don't get it, do you? He's evil. He has to be. And I'm going to stop him with the same powers he gave me."

Sasuke smirked. "How do you know that he doesn't have a way to nullify those very same powers?"

Shikamaru looked down at the ground. "I... I don't know. I have no idea what'd I do if I met him again... and that scares me. But... I have to try. I've already met people from outside the village who had eaten the fruit. If he isn't stopped, someone who hates the village could very well get their hands on another 'god' fruit like yours, and destroy us easily. I have to stop him before something like that happens."

Sasuke sighed. "Well... when you put it that way... it does make me uncomfortable that there's someone walking around that can just hand out powers that could rival my own... If _he_ got his hands on power like that... Fine. You've got me on board the anti-Akira train."

Kiba sighed. "Well... I won't try to face him head-on, but... if I get the opportunity to take him out... I _might_ take it."

Shikamaru smiled. "Thanks... that's all I can ask of you guys. How troublesome, though... I think I'll go talk to Asuma-sensei about this... you guys should talk to your senseis, too. They probably want to know where you got that kind of power."

Sasuke shrugged. "I guess I should... I guess I'll tell him while we're out training. He's supposed to take me away for training today."

Shikamaru cracked his neck. "Yeah... my dad wants to take me for training, too. I'm gonna have a hard time explaining my gift for shadow jutsu to him..."

A nurse walked in. "Kiba? You're free to go, but the doctor warns you to take it easy."

Kiba grinned. "Yahoo! You hear that, Akamaru? We can go back to training!"

--

Hinata pounded away at a training log. "I... have to... become strong... just like... Naruto..."

A voice interrupted her loud thoughts. "Kehehe... Well, I have a way for you to become stronger, if you wish..."

Hinata turned around, and found herself facing Yuumei Akira. "Who... who are you?"

Akira smiled. "Me? Why, I'm the one who hands out power to those in want of it..."

He held out a strange looking fruit in front of him. "Well?"

Hinata bit her lip. "I..."

"One bite of this fruit.... and you will have _power_. Kiba took my offer, and look how strong he's become."

Hinata frowned slightly. "So, it was you... who turned him into that..."

Akira's smile wavered slightly. "You don't seem to respect the power the form gives him."

Hinata shook her head. "It certainly is powerful, but... Naruto is stronger still."

Akira's eyes narrowed to the point that they were practically closed. "Naruto is... stronger still, you say?" His body seemed to quiver for a moment, and in a flash, the entire training field was covered with ice, and Akira was gone. Hinata gasped as she realized her feet were frozen in place, and waved her arms to keep her balance. Ice seemed to grow into a large stalagmite in front of her, and Akira's face grew out of the spike- said face was contorted in rage, and for once his eyes were open. Hinata shuddered when she realized that, while his irises were a perfectly normal blue-green, his pupils were white, and the whites of his eyes were black. "I could give you command over the very elements themselves! You could become a god in the eyes of these people! You would be able to show them all that _you, are not, weak_!"

Hinata shook her head. "That... is not real power. Power not earned... can easily be turned against the user. P-power... must be earned, through training."

Akira growled. "You're a Hyuuga, you're _born_ with power! You have no right to talk about earning power!"

Hinata winced as the ice around her legs began creeping steadily upwards. "I... I will not take your offer. I, Hyuuga Hinata, refuse to take it."

Akira snarled. "Be that way. I guess I could just leave you here to freeze to death... but that's no fun, now is it?" The ice around Hinata's legs began to reach her waist. "I'll encase you in ice... by the time you melt, you'll be dead."

Hinata's eyes were narrowed in determination. "Do what you wish. I refuse to be a pawn of your will."

"Awoo! Take this! _Tsuuga!_"

Akira was shattered into countless tiny fragments as Kiba in his werewolf form plowed through him like a drill. Kiba came out of the spin, sliding on the ice as he dug his claws into it. "Don't you dare lay a hand on Hinata!"

The ice scattered through the air began reforming into one solid, person-shaped piece of ice. After a moment, it gained color, and Akira stood in his human form. "Ah, Kiba... nice to see you again. How do you like your new forms?"

Kiba snorted, the air cold enough that you could see his breath. "Don't talk like that to me! You were about to kill her!"

Akira gave what he apparently thought was a cute pout. "Ah... I guess I did get a little carried away, didn't I? Kehehe... Well, I'll be going now. See you later, Hinata, Kiba."

Kiba, forgetting what he had told Shikamaru earlier, charged at Akira, going into his Tsuuga once more. "Take this, you piece of-" He didn't get to finish his sentence, as Akira had held out a hand and flash-frozen Kiba in mid-air.

Akira wagged his finger in a disapproving manner. "Tut, tut, Kiba. Language, now."

Hinata's eyes were wide with fear. "K-Kiba...!"

Akira turned back to her, a smile on his face once more. "Kehehe... so, then. I assume you want to save Kiba, right?"

Hinata gulped. "Wh-what do you want from me?"

Akira smirked. "Information. Who... is... _Naruto_?"

**Kasek: **And I'll leave here for now. Tell me what you think, because I think that this little exchange between Akira and Hinata is one of the most epic things I've written in a while. I hadn't planned for Akira to lose his temper, but then I thought how awesome it would be for a Logia user to use so much power in a show of force. Hence, him getting mad at Hinata. Also, I think Hinata is the perfect person to ask about Naruto... aside from the fact that she doesn't know about his 'tenant'. But maybe Akira will figure that out from what Hinata tells him, so who knows.

Let me know if you want anybody to get Devil Fruits, and what fruits to give them. Please? Just for the record, I don't intend on giving Naruto a fruit. It just wouldn't be... _right_ for him to have one. Same goes for Lee, but either one could get tricked into eating one (Like the Gomu Gomu no Mi, kehehe).

Also, that last scene with Kiba? That is the near the closest you'll ever see me get to swearing/'cussing' in a fic of mine. If this fic gets that far, there's a scene where someone gets halfway through a word, and then gets interrupted just like Kiba did, but that's it for me and swearing.


	7. Chapter 7

**Kasek:** What the-? This chapter's been complete for ages, yet it hasn't been uploaded. Whoopsies XD My bad!

Also, got around my writer's block for Kitsu Kitsu. The chapter's looking pretty good so far.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece.**

Shikamaru sighed as he looked around at the Genin assembled around him. There was Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, Shino, Kankuro, Kabuto, and lastly, Chouji and Ino. Yep, everyone was accounted for. Not that he cared about anyone outside of his team, but still. The Hokage, Hiruzen, gave some speech about the exams, and their new proctor, Shiranui Genma, soon dismissed them to the competitor's box while Naruto and Sasuke stayed behind.

Naruto scowled as he faced down Sasuke. "Sasuke... I _will_ win this match."

Sasuke smirked at his teammate. "You and what army, dobe? Did you forget about my lightning powers?"

Naruto smirked as well. "Did you forget the power I used to defeat Kiba?"

Now it was Sasuke's turn to scowl. "Please. That power won't save you against me."

Genma looked between the two of them, and then raised his hand. "First match, begin!" He dropped his hand, and swiftly got back away from the fighting.

Sasuke's scowl went back into a smirk. "If you're so confident..." He turned his entire body into electricity. "...then I'll let you throw the first punch."

Naruto grinned as he cracked his knuckles. "If you insist..." He reached inside of himself, and found what he was looking for- the red chakra. He pulled on it, and many of the Konoha ninja were surprised to feel that energy once more after nearly thirteen years- the energy of the Kyuubi no Youko. Naruto's teeth and nails turned into fangs and claws, and his eyes turned red, with the pupils becoming slitted. "Here I come, Sasuke!"

Sasuke merely smirked as Naruto dashed at him, fist raised. Sasuke continued smirking as Naruto's fist went straight towards his face. He stopped smirking, however, when Naruto did the impossible and actually punched him, sending him flying through the air. Even after he touched the ground, he kept tumbling, giving him scratches on his now normal body. After a few seconds of lying still, he slowly got back up. "What... just happened?"

Naruto had a gigantic grin on his face. "I just decked you, that's what happened."

Sasuke's face was contorted in rage. "You think this is funny? An ability which is supposed to prevent you from even touching me... was circumvented! Just what kind of power are you using, that can touch the power of a god?"

Naruto's face was the epitome of seriousness. "The power of a demon, that's what." Naruto disappeared, and Sasuke could barely blink before Naruto's foot found itself in his gut, sending him skipping across the ground like a pebble across a pond. Sasuke managed to get up again, his Sharingan blazing the same color of the liquid coming out of his mouth.

"You... I won't go easy on you anymore." Sasuke raised a finger and pointed it towards Naruto, and a lightning bolt shot out and arced towards Naruto. However, it did not hit its mark- Naruto had disappeared from his spot, and was now a bit closer towards Sasuke, and a bit to the right. Sasuke again fired a bolt, and again Naruto dodged. Sasuke began firing them rapidly, and Naruto managed to dodge them all. After one last blast, Naruto was right in front of Sasuke, and threw another punch at his face, which even with his Sharingan, Sasuke couldn't dodge. Again, his body tumbled on the ground, and now he was bleeding from different scratches on his body, as well as from his mouth. "You... what _are _you?"

Naruto walked slowly over to Sasuke, and looked down on his rival. "Just ask any adult in this village- they'll tell you I'm a demon, a monster. Want to know what I really am, though?" He crouched down in front of Sasuke, and their eyes were at the same level. Sasuke shivered as he stared into the demonic eyes of his teammate, though he certainly wasn't one to talk. "The winner of this match." He placed his hands in the familiar cross-shaped seal. Instantly, Sasuke was surrounded by dozens of Narutos. "You should give up, Sasuke."

Sasuke grit his teeth as he gripped dirt. "I... will not... LOSE!" A lightning bolt came out of the sky and struck Sasuke, and the electricity branched out from him into several much smaller bolts that pierced all of the Narutos. The clones disappeared in clouds of smoke, and as Sasuke slowly got up, he saw Naruto clutching his stomach, a small hole burnt into his clothes. "Heh, who's the winner now, dobe?"

Naruto smirked. "Still me." A moment later, and that Naruto disappeared into smoke, as well. Sasuke had no time to react as the earth beneath him erupted, and a fist came out of the ground, Naruto right behind it. On instinct, Sasuke turned his body into electricity, but to no avail- Naruto's fist connected with his chin, knocking him out while at the same time sending him into the air. He landed a moment later, Naruto grinning as the effects of the Kyuubi's chakra subsided.

Genma appeared next to Sasuke and checked him. "The winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"

Shikamaru had to hand it to Naruto- somehow he had managed to beat Sasuke, even though the latter had gained power from an Akuma no Mi. Sasuke had said that he could nullify attacks with it, but apparently Naruto had found a way around it. He started clapping a little, and soon the rest of the crowd was clapping, as well (except for those who had bet on the Uchiha to win). Naruto's grin threatened to take over his whole face as he placed his fingers in a 'v' for victory, and began jogging back to the competitor's box.

Hinata, while glad that her crush had won, frowned when she thought back to her meeting with Akira. _He seemed awfully interested in Naruto... I hope he doesn't do anything to him..._

Shikamaru turned to her. "Hey. Kiba told me about what happened with that Akira guy... that you refused his offer. Good for you, I think he's up to no good with those powers of his."

Hinata blushed. "Ah... um... well... when I saw that Naruto was able to beat someone he had given power to... I thought... maybe I could do that too..."

Shikamaru smirked. "Yeah... this makes twice now that Naruto has beaten someone Akira has given power to... I wonder how he does it."

Hinata's eyes widened. "Sasuke, too...?"

Shikamaru nodded. "Me, Kiba, and Sasuke... though, I had no clue about what the fruit did when I ate it. I certainly didn't think I was being cursed, I thought I was just going to get sick."

Naruto appeared in the box. "Alright! I won! I won!"

Hinata glanced towards Naruto. "C-congratulations, Naruto..."

Naruto grinned. "Alright! Now it's your turn, Hinata! Kick Ino's butt!"

Ino growled at him. "Hey! I'm right here you know! There's no way I'm going to lose this match!"

Naruto waved her off. "Yeah, yeah. So you say."

Hinata giggled at Naruto's antics. "I'll... do my best, Naruto."

Naruto patted her on the back as she began walking out, causing her to blush and stumble. Ino growled as she walked alongside her. "You're going down, Hyuuga." Hinata looked down at her feet, but said nothing.

When they had gotten down to the arena and had taken their places, Genma started the match. Ino immediately drew her sword and charged at her opponent, slicing at her rapidly. However, Hinata seemed to _flow_ around all of her attacks. Ino performed a downwards slash, and Hinata sidestepped it and rammed her palm into Ino's stomach, which caused Ino to cough up a mixture of bile and blood on the ground in front of her. Ino growled, and did a sideways slash, which Hinata ducked under, and brought her palm up to Ino's chin the force of which violently snapped Ino's head backwards. Ino took a few steps back, and rubbed her jaw with her left hand as she tried to regain her senses. After another moment, she gripped her blade with both hands and stepped forward, intent on stabbing Hinata. However, Hinata twirled around her, and used Ino's momentum against her to get behind her. What happened next surprised just about everybody- she literally kicked Ino's butt.

Ino sputtered as she got her face out of the dirt. "Wh-wh-what was that for?!"

Hinata looked down and to the side. "Well... I told Naruto i would do it, so..."

Ino growled as she took an offensive position once again. "I don't think that's what he meant..."

Hinata shook her head as she, too, got back into position. "I never go back on my word... that's my nindo."

Ino's eyebrow twitched. "If you're going to be that way, fine..." She charged at Hinata once more, going through a flurry of hacking and slashing. Hinata managed to sidestep, duck, or even jump over all of her attacks. Ino took a step back, a little out of breath. "Why, you-!" She practically leaped at Hinata, sword raised for a strike. Again, Hinata twirled around Ino to get behind her, and brought her hand onto the back of Ino's neck, effectively knocking her out. Genma appeared next to Ino and checked her for a moment.

"Winner: Hyuuga Hinata!"

Hinata blushed as the crowd cheered for her. She could make out Naruto cheering for her, as well, which made her blush deepen as she slowly walked back to the competitors' box.

Shikamaru glared at the cheering Naruto. "Do you mind? _Some_ people were cheering for Ino."

Naruto put his finger in Shikamaru's face. "Ha! In your face, Shikamaru! I totally knew Hinata was going to win that match!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Despite the fact that Ino was higher ranked in the Academy, _and_ that Ino had a sword and Hinata didn't?"

Naruto nodded. "Yep!"

Shikamaru glanced at the entrance to the room, where Hinata was now standing. "Well, here's your _girlfriend_ now. Why don't you congratulate her yourself?"

Both Naruto and Hinata blushed a deep crimson. Naruto coughed. "Sh-she's not my girlfriend..."

Shikamaru smirked as he saw Hinata stand next to Naruto as they watched Shino and Chouji get on the battlefield. Genma started the match, and immediately they began using their techniques- Shino with his Kikaichu, and Chouji with his _Nikudan Sensha_. Shino soon forfeited, as Chouji's rolling would only fling off or crush whatever bugs could get on him, and Shino had no way to get him to stop.

When Genma announced that it was time for Shikamaru and Kankuro's match, Shikamaru had to raise an eyebrow when Kankuro immediately forfeited. _Why didn't he forfeit when we were first assigned these matches?_ His thoughts were interrupted when Genma then called for Shikamaru and Kabuto to come down. With a sigh of 'troublesome', Shikamaru walked down to the arena, followed by Kabuto.

Shikamaru yawned as he faced his opponent. "You sure you can't just forfeit like that Kankuro guy did?"

Genma shouted 'Begin!'. Kabuto smiled- to Shikamaru, it was very sickening. "While I'm not forfeiting... I'm not going to be fighting in this match, either." He put his hands together in a handseal. After a moment, feathers began falling from the sky. Shikamaru muttered 'troublesome' again, and cancelled the genjutsu Kabuto was casting immediately. A moment later, and the Kage's box, where the Hokage and the Kazekage were, was covered in smoke. Shikamaru's eyes widened as shinobi all over the stadium began fighting. He quickly took note that it was Suna and Oto versus the Konoha ninja. He turned back to face Kabuto, but he was gone. The only other person in the arena (besides Genma) was that Gaara guy. Gaara smirked as he placed his hands together, and a dome of sand formed around him. Shikamaru gulped as he felt an ominous chakra come from within it.

_This can't be good_...

**Kasek: **If you're feeling particularly curious as to how Naruto managed to hit Sasuke- or you think you know- leave it in a review or a PM.


	8. Chapter 8

**Kasek:** So yeah. New chapter and all that jazz. Why is this even here if I don't have anything to say? Meh.

**Disclaimer: _I own neither Naruto nor One Piece_**

Naruto grit his teeth as he saw Kankuro jump into the arena, and he also saw Temari and their sensei appear by Gaara's side. "Come on guys! We've got to help out!" He turned and saw that, while Hinata and Shino were still standing, Chouji had fallen asleep. Hinata looked at Naruto, and then followed his gaze towards Chouji. Her eyes widened in a moment of realization, and walked over to Chouji and proceeded to wake him up.

Chouji looked around himself. "Huh? What? What's going on?"

Naruto shook his head. "That's what we're going to find out. Come on!" Hinata and Shino nodded in agreement, and they all jumped after the Suna nin, Chouji taking a moment to regain his bearings and follow them. They stopped by Shikamaru's side as Kankuro stopped by Gaara's sand dome with the rest of his team. Shikamaru clicked his tongue when he saw Naruto land next to him. "Hey, you feel the chakra that Gaara guy's giving off? It's the same chakra he was giving when he went berserk in the preliminaries."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah... it's demonic chakra."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "Demonic?"

Naruto nodded. "Demonic chakra is a combination of regular chakra and an energy called haki. While both are just fine by themselves, combined, it gives off the foulness we're feeling now. I think just how foul it is varies from user to user, though."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto with suspicion. "And you would know this, how?"

Naruto's eyes widened for a moment. "Uh, well, you've probably noticed from my fights with Kiba and Sasuke, but I'm a demonic chakra user. Haki has some big advantages by itself, but demonic chakra is downright powerful."

Shikamaru nodded. "Ah... I've just never heard of demonic chakra before. Well, unless you count the foul feeling the Kyuubi no Youko's chakra is supposed to have."

Naruto gulped, which did not go unnoticed by Hinata. "Y-yeah."

Genma appeared in front of them. "Ah, it's good to see that you're willing to do your duty... I'm deputizing you guys to help me take this team here down."

Kankuro unveiled his puppet, and it clattered to life in front of him. "Come on! We have to protect Gaara while he's making the transformation! I don't see why he didn't just go straight into the full-form like he was told, but just this first stage ought to be enough to wipe out a good portion of their forces."

Temari unfurled her fan, and took a battle stance. "I don't think he needs much protecting in there, but whatever. Just make sure to get out of here once he starts."

Baki took a stance of his own as they faced the group before them. "I'll take the Jonin. You guys see if you can take down the genin."

Temari smirked. "Please. We've the Kazekage's children- even without Gaara we're almost undefeated, no way some Konoha genin is taking me down."

Kankuro's smirk was a bit bigger. "What about that Kabuto guy?"

Temari growled at her brother. "He doesn't count, he's Jonin level! Anyways, we ought to be good enough for five Konoha genin."

Naruto took the time to look up at the rest of the arena as it fell more and more into chaos. He saw the large barrier surrounding the top building above where the Hokage was. He turned his attention back to the people in front of him, and drew on the Kyuubi's power again. "...let's finish this quickly."

Shikamaru's shadow rose up next to him and moved as if it was cracking its knuckles. Shikamaru smirked. "Gladly."

--

Sasuke woke up to hearing the sound of clashing metal in the hallway. He groggily got out of the bed and opened the door, and walked out to see what was going on. He was at the very end of the hallway, and looking down it, he could see a couple of Oto ninja, who had just killed the last of the medical personnel he could see. Sasuke blinked, and then the one in the lead noticed him. "Look, it's the Uchiha. Let's grab him for Orochimaru-sama."

Sasuke grunted, and both of his arms became covered in electricity. "You grunts think you can take me on, when your boss couldn't? Give me some credit here." His lower body turned into electricity, and in a flash, he was on the other side of the hallway... and then the hallway became splattered with blood as the ninja fell to the ground, large chunks taken out of their bodies. Sasuke smirked as his body powered down. "Ah... that Chidori really does come in handy, especially since I can use it infinitely due to my powers... wonder if there's anyone else I can test it out on."

--

Kakashi grunted as he took out another one of the Oto nin. He looked down at the arena below for a moment- Chouji was chasing Temari around with his _Nikudan Sensha_ while Shikamaru's shadow tried to maneuver behind her. Naruto was attacking Karasu directly, while Shino's bugs chased Kankuro around. Hinata was trying to get close to Gaara, but Temari, Kankuro, and even Baki kept launching attacks at her to prevent it whenever they could. _They know that she's dangerous to Gaara, even with his sand... looks like both sides understand the meaning of teamwork_. He punched a man trying to sneak up behind him in the face. _This latest generation of shinobi looks promising..._

--

Shikamaru did something uncharacteristic and charged Temari himself as his shadow came from the opposite side of her. Temari looked back and forth between the two of them as Chouji began slowing down. _I can't go after the fatty just yet because the spinning messes with my fuuton jutsu... though he seems to be slowing down. And attacking the shadow is useless. So I only have one viable target. And if I take __**him**__ out, the shadow ought to go with him. _She swung her fan in Shikamaru's direction, causing him to be enveloped in a whirlwind of blades of air. She raised her arm in front of her eyes to prevent the dust getting in her eyes, but after a moment she realized stopping might have been a bad idea when she found a kunai at her throat. Shikamaru stood behind her, eyes narrowed.

"I suggest you surrender before I slit your throat."

Chouji came out of his _Nikudan Sensha_ and walked up to them. "Good work Shikamaru!"

Temari grit her teeth together. "How did you get behind me so fast?" She looked where Shikamaru had been, and was surprised to see his shadow there. "Did you henge your shadow as you and vice-versa? No, that's not it... you..."

Shikamaru smirked. "I call it _Kage Kawarimi_. Me and my shadow can switch places instantly at any time. Very useful." Shikamaru's shadow walked over and merged with Temari's shadow. Temari went rigid.

"So, you're using your _Kage Kugetsu_ technique to make sure I don't pull anything, huh?"

Shikamaru nodded as he took his kunai away from her neck. "Yep... it takes a bit of concentration, but it works."

Temari looked at her shadow, which was substantially darker than it had been. "...I was too careless. I'm sorry, Gaara." Shikamaru hit her in the back of the neck, and everything faded...

--

Kankuro smirked when Naruto ripped Karasu's arm off- he made it grip Naruto and try to throw him down to the ground. Unfortunately, Naruto was fairly resistant to it and just kept attacking. Kankuro froze when he realized that his chakra strings were cut. "Shoot, the bugs must've gotten to them..." He ran away from the horde of bugs and got inbetween Gaara and Hinata, who was just about to reach Gaara. "Stop right there!"

Hinata gave a palm thrust, which Kankuro deflected with his arm. Hinata's open palm clenched onto Kankuro's arm, and she used the leverage to kick him in the face. While Kankuro was stunned, Hinata landed back on her feet and quickly thrust a palm into his chest, causing him to cough up blood. He groaned. "Sorry... Gaara..." He collapsed, and Hinata stepped over him and stood in front of the sand dome. She was about to strike it when a giant needle suddenly grew out of it, and she was forced to jump back.

Naruto appeared next to her. "So we can't get close, huh?"

Hinata gulped at Naruto's demonic appearance, but nodded. "Y-yes... there are spikes that shoot out of it when I get close."

Shikamaru walked over, Chouji walking behind him. "How does he know when you're attacking? That shell obviously isn't see-through."

Hinata looked up. "Ummm.... th-there's an eye floating above it."

Naruto looked up, and sure enough, there was. "I say we stab it and attack him while he's blind."

Shino was now over with them as well. The battle between Baki and Genma could be heard in the distance as Baki summoned some sort of tornado, barely missing Genma. "It might move out of the way. Making sure there's nothing to see would be a better idea."

Chouji took out a bag of chips and began munching on them. "And how do we do that?"

Shino inclined his head towards Chouji, and a swarm of insects flew out of his coat. "With overwhelming numbers, of course."

--

Gaara growled as his vision was blinded by the countless insects. How dare they think that they could stop him before the transformation was complete?! It was only mere seonds before it was done. Just as he finished, a large hole was punched in the shell, getting sand in Gaara's eyes. He grunted as the sand was absorbed into his body- that tactic was useless against him now. Now, it was time to bring down the shell and show them what a demon was truly capable of.

--

There was a loud roar that seemed to shake the entire stadium as the shell began to crumble to pieces. The genin stood there ground as a silhouette could be seen emerging from the flowing sand. As the sand fell to the ground, they all became quickly horrifed at what Gaara had become- a large creature with long arms and claws, short legs, and a very long tail swaying behind it. It had a grin full of teeth, and it's yellow eyes had a most unusual appearance- the 'pupil' was a four pointed star, with a small circle between each point. The genin all took defensive positions as Gaara seemed to tense. Naruto's eyes widened, and he jumped to the left and seemed to kick at the air- and then the bottom of Naruto's shoe connected with Gaara's face, just as he was about to reach Hinata. Hinata froze as the creature rolled along the ground and got back up.

"I... I didn't... even with my eyes..."

Naruto snorted. "Guys, get away. He's too fast for any of you to handle. I'm the only one who can keep up."

Shikamaru gripped his shoulder. "...I don't care if you're both the only 'demonic chakra' user among us. We're fighting with you against this guy, because that's what comrades do."

Naruto smiled, but then his face moved into shock right before he pushed Shikamaru away. In an instant, Naruto was sent flying, and Gaara was standing where he had been, his 'fist' clenched and positioned where Naruto's face had been. "Is that all you guys have got?! I'm going to kill you whether or not you fight back, but make this enjoyable for me!"

Naruto landed on his feet, and dashed back towards Gaara, fist raised. Gaara jumped backward, and crossed his arms. "_Suna shuriken!_" He uncrossed his arms, and several discs of sand flew towards them. Shikamaru's shadow grew into a that all of the other genin quickly jumped behind, while Naruto seemed to flow around the shuriken as he charged towards Gaara. Gaara raised his arm and gave a very feral grin. "You think you can harm me?! Eh, Uzumaki?!?"

Naruto gave a small smirk. "I don't think, I know." He punched Gaara's arm, which Gaara was sent flying backwards by. As the wall of shadow came down, Shikamaru could only gape. "What did you _do_ Naruto?"

Naruto gave him a thumbs up. "One of the main attributes of haki- enhanced strength. A haki-filled punch can shatter stone, but I guess his sand is a lot more powerful than stone if it's still holding together."

Gaara growled as he stood back up. "You are strong, Uzumaki. I'm going to enjoy killing you!"

Naruto stood firm. "I won't let you kill anyone here!"

--

Sasuke had made it out of the infirmary area, and now he could see the grand scale of the invasion. He smirked. This would be fun. He glanced into the center of the arena and saw Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji, Hinata, and Shino facing off with some manner of creature. Sasuke frowned. _Is that another Akuma no Mi user? Doesn't look like any kind of animal I know... at second glance, it might be a tanuki. I think I'll let Naruto take care of it, he's proven to be pretty good at defeating those with Akuma no Mi. Plus, more kills for me._ He turned into electricity as someone tried to slice his neck with a kunai, shocking his attacker into submission. "Che, amatuer."

--

Naruto sighed. "Guys, get back. I'm going to beat him into submission."

Shino did as told, as did Hinata and Chouji. Shikamaru did not. "And how do you intend on doing that?"

Naruto smirked. "Did you forget my specialty already?" He placed his fingers in the cross seal, and all of a sudden the arena was filled with Narutos. Many ninja got distracted at the sheer number of them. Shikamaru stood still, mouth agape at them all. Naruto smirked. "And just so you know, _Kage Bunshin _retain all the strength of the original users. All right, men! Take him out!"

Gaara began taking in air, and then many more mouths appeared all over his body, also drawing in breath. "_Futon: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa!_" All of the clones in a wide radius around Gaara disappeared as he released all of the air stored in his body along with a lot of sand, causing a small sandstorm around him. The rest of the clones called out_ "Shihohapo Shuriken!_" and threw as many shuriken as they could into the cloud as they charged into the dust. Shikamaru watched in awe as Gaara's shuriken-riddled form rose above the cloud, and four clones followed him, spinning rapidly while curled into balls. Just as they passed Gaara, they shouted out "_Bunshin_ _Kaiten Kakatou Otoshi_!" and stuck out their legs, all simultaneously using the force of their spinning to drive their super powered kicks into Gaara's head and shoulders. Gaara immediately fell back down into the clearing cloud of sand, but Shikamaru didn't hear the expected loud 'thump' that would accompany Gaara hitting the ground very, very hard. Instead, he saw a few Narutos rising into the air with Gaara in tow, and tossed him at the now falling other clones. The falling clones readied their fists, and Shikamaru winced as all four clones punched Gaara at the same time, and again Gaara flew rapidly towards the ground. Shikamaru definitely heard a loud 'thump' this time as yet another dust cloud was kicked up.

Gaara didn't move from his prone position on the ground. "Why... why are you so strong? Is it that you have something inside of you, as well?"

Naruto's eyes widened, but then he closed them. "That is not what makes me strong... my determination to protect my friends makes me strong. One of my mottoes is... a ninja only becomes truly strong when they have something precious to protect."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Something precious to protect... the only thing I value is myself."

Naruto sighed. "And that's why you lost."

A sudden grin came over Gaara's features. "Lost?! I'm just getting started!"

Naruto's eyes widened as sand from all over the arena suddenly shot up into the sky and formed a gigantic mass of sand. Naruto was horrified to see it take the shape of what appeared to be a fat tanuki, purple markings winding up and down its sand body. It looked down at him, and laughed. "Let's see where your power gets you against this, UZUMAKI!"

--

**Kasek: **I'm going to stop here, but I have an idea how the rest of this is going to play out. Give you a hint- I hope you're not too attached to any of the Rookie 9. .......kidding! I'm not going to _kill_ anyone. Yet. I don't think, anyways. Might change my mind.

Maybe I should include Akira in this fight somehow... or maybe not. Maybe I should introduce his coworkers instead... if he has any.

Why are you still reading this? It's obvious I'm just messing with your minds here.

Anyways, as for the haki thing? The Kyuubi told him. Yup. ...sorry it sounds kind of forced. Also, this is the reason why Naruto is capable of much more buttkicking now than he should be. In the past month he has learned a lot about demonic chakra/haki and its uses. Also, yes he learned on how to pull on Kyuubi's chakra much earlier. For those of you who don't know about haki, it's an energy used in One Piece. If you've seen the part where Shanks makes the Sea King flee in _sheer terror_, he was using haki there.

Need to change a small detail about Akira in the scene with Hinata. Just so you don't have to go back and read it later: the color of the white of his eyes is black, and his pupil is white. Note that this might just be because he's mad, because I'm rewriting him so that his eyes are like Gin's from Bleach- you only see them open for specific scenes. That's how I've always imagined them, but reading back that's not how they come across. Credit to animefan11950 for this, btw. Since this story is spawned from their suggestion in the first place, I've been talking with them a lot about our respective stories. Don't be too surprised to see any of my OCs pop up in their story(ies), nor theirs in mine (Kitsu Kitsu is safe, but I can't say the same for this one).

Let's see here...

_Nikudan Sensha_: Human Bullet Tank

_Kage_ _Kawarimi_: Shadow Substitution

_Futon: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa_: Wind Release: Infinite Sand Cloud Breakthrough (I think)

_Shihohappo Shuriken_: All Directions Shuriken

_Bunshin Kaiten Kakatou Otoshi: _CloneSpinning Heel Drop (the Naruto Wikia page on this is confusing, somebody go clear that up).


	9. Chapter 9

**Kasek:** Hope this doesn't disappoint anyone. I have a few plot twists here- the first one too much out of left field for my tastes, the second much more acceptable, and the third is kinda blah, don't know why I did it.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece. OCs belong to their respective owners.**

Akira stood at the top of the wall of the arena, looking down at all of the chaos. "My, my... wonder where our 'possible' jinchuuriki is."

A boy next to him- apparently Naruto's age- didn't even bat an eyelash as he pointed to the very center of the arena. "That would be him in the center. Your information _did_ say he could use Kage Bunshin..."

Akira placed his hand on the back of his head as he looked at his partner. "Kehehe. Oops. I need to work on that, eh, Shijou?" He took a moment to observe his partner. He didn't look like much- slicked back black hair, a grey hooded jacket over a blue shirt and black shorts- but his black irises and white pupils conveyed that something was most definitely off with him. Akira let a slight frown onto his face. _His eyes are different than mine... I guess he must have gotten his powers in a slightly different way than I did._ He put his train of thought back on track. "So, do we just go down there, cause general mayhem, and kill this Naruto, or what?"

Shijou frowned. "I don't know... if you're paying any attention, I'm sure you've noticed the not-quite human with Naruto."

Akira nodded, his smile faltering. "Yes... more demonic chakra. So that would make two jinchuriki here at the same time... fighting each other, no less. Which one do you want?"

Shijou stared at the arena. "...this Naruto has already defeated one zoan. Let's see how he deals with me."

Akira's smile returned. "Ah... too bad. I wanted to see how he would deal with a logia. No matter, I suppose. I'm a strong enough ninja in my own right that it wouldn't really bother me. You, on the other hand..."

Shijou blinked slowly. "Let's just get down there..."

They were interrupted by the formation of a very large mass of sand, which seemed to turn into a creature of some sort. The creature looked straight down and yelled "Let's see where your power gets you against this, UZUMAKI!"

Akira coughed. "I guess I really ought to be the one to take him down... I doubt a zoan could take care of a giant demon like that... though it'd be entertaining to watch you get killed, kehehe. Come on then."

--

Orochimaru and Hiruzen paused in their battle to observe the giant monster in the arena. Hiruzen was not amused. "What is that... that _thing_, Orochimaru?"

Orochimaru chuckled. "Ah, Sarutobi-sensei... that, is Suna's jinchuuriki. And from the sound of it, he is engaged in battle with Konoha's own jinchuriki... I feel sorry for the brat, really. That seal doesn't allow him nearly as much power as the seal on young Gaara does."

Hiruzen growled at his former student. "We will find a way to defeat him, Orochimaru- him and you both!"

--

Naruto grit his teeth as he saw the two figures appear in front of him. "What do you want?! We're kinda busy here!"

Akira smiled. "Uzumaki Naruto, I presume?"

Hinata gasped. "N-Naruto, look out! He's after you!"

Naruto's eyes narrowed even further. "You think I care? I'm gonna pound all of these enemies into the ground!"

Shikamaru put his hand on Naruto's shoulder again. "Be careful. He has as much power over ice as Sasuke has over lightning, if not more."

Gaara apparently heard them. "You think I'm going to let some nobody take my prey?! Think again!" He pulled back his arm, and shot it forward. Akira's smile didn't waver. "My my, what a temper you have, jinchuriki." His eyes opened for a moment, and he held out his hand in front of him. "Time for a time-out." In a flash, the great beast was encased in a block of ice.

Naruto stumbled backwards at the sheer display of power, for once in his life scared out of his mind. "What... what is he?"

Shikamaru snorted. "Yuumei Akira, user of an ice-based Akuma no Mi. For reasons unknown, he has been giving out Akuma no Mi to various individuals, granting them power in exchange for their ability to swim. Tch, how troublesome... for him to pop up here. And now he's after Naruto for some reason..."

--

Both combatants stood dumbfounded at what had just happened. Orochimaru was trembling at the display of sheer power. "Such powerful Hyoton jutsu... I have never seen in my life! Where did you get a shinobi of such power, Sarutobi-sensei?"

Hiruzen shook his head. "I don't know... whoever did that is not one of ours. We have a ninja with a mixed-element kekkei genkai, but it is not Hyoton..."

--

Shino inclined his head towards Naruto. "He just called Gaara, 'jinchuriki'. Do you know the meaning of this word, Naruto?"

Naruto gulped- he didn't know, but he could guess. "Not quite sure, never heard it before. I think it might have to do with demonic chakra..."

Akira's smile was starting to get really creepy. "Ah, so perceptive, little jinchuriki. Those with a.... gift, for demonic chakra are called jinchuriki."

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes. "Gift... yet they're called human sacrifices... is it the same kind of 'gift' you've been giving to people, Yuumei?"

Akira shook his head slwoly. "Not quite... jinchuriki are... far more cursed than those who eat Akuma no Mi."

Hinata gulped, not liking where this conversation was going. Naruto... far more cursed than Kiba the werewolf? "Wh-why are you telling us these things?"

Akira chuckled, sending shivers down Hinata's spine. "Why? Why do I do anything? It's interesting... I want to see your reactions when the full truth is revealed."

Chouji had been going through his chips like crazy, but the bag was now empty. "What truth?"

Naruto clenched his fists. "Shut. Up."

Akira's smile changed into a smirk. "You see... while it is theoretically possible for a human to create demonic chakra on their own... the training takes so long that they're old men by the time they're done. The demonic chakra these two jinchuriki use... comes from another source altogether. A source that they are hated for all of their un-natural born lives, a source that makes them feared universally... I'm sure you can guess, no?"

Hinata gasped as she put two and two together. "Naruto's birthday... was the day that the... Kyuubi no... Youko..."

Naruto pointed at Akira. "SHUT UP!"

Akira's smirk deepened. "Ah, I see you came to the same result that I did when I interrogated you. Naruto here... is the host of the Kyuubi no Youko... and has been using its power for these exams as his own."

Naruto could feel the tears pouring down his eyes. "SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" He dashed towards Akira at blinding speeds, and just as he was going to punch Akira in the face, a giant paw came out of nowhere and pressed into him hard, throwing him back to where he started. The others gaped at the monster before them- whereas Kiba was a were_wolf_, it appeared Shijou was a were_panda_. He towered over Akira, his slicked back black hair looking oddly appropriate on his panda-ish body.

Shijou glanced towards his partner, the black and white eyes making him seem all the more monstrous. "You... are not a very nice person, are you?"

Akira shrugged his shoulders. "Kehehe... I'm just one of those people who, what's the phrase... "doesn't know when to shut up"."

Naruto remained on the ground, the tears flowing from him. "Because of him... now everyone knows...darn it, darn it, DARN IT!"

Hinata got on her knees next to him. "N-N-Naruto? Are you alright?"

Naruto raised his fist and slammed it back into the ground, leaving a rather large dent in the dirt. "Do I look alright to you?! Because of them... I thought that the current generation would never learn, and that gave me hope, but..."

Hinata wiped away the tears in his eyes. "I... don't hate you... Naruto."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

Hinata smiled at him. "I... could never hate you... Naruto. I'll always be there for you... when you need me."

Naruto's eyes widened as he sat up. "Hi-Hinata..."

Shikamaru crouched next to him. "It'd more troublesome to hate you than to just ignore you... besides, it'd be hypocritical of me to hate someone for being cursed with something they did not want..."

Chouji gave Naruto a thumbs-up. "We've always been pals, Naruto. Why would that change? Besides, anyone who's okay in Shikamaru's book is okay in mine!"

Shino merely inclined his head deeply, and Naruto was surprised to see actual eyes behind the shades. "Logic would dictate that you are a shinobi of Konoha- despite your past, you work with us. You are our comrade. And that is not something that can be disregarded, no matter what."

Naruto held back the tears. "G-guys..." He got all the way back up, and dusted himself off. "Thanks... my friends."

Akira shrugged his shoulders. "Huh, go figure... they accept him just like that. Most jinchuriki aren't so lucky, from what I've heard."

Naruto glared at him. "What do you mean?"

Akira pointed his thumb at Gaara. "Jinchuriki as a whole tend to be lonesome, miserable creatures, growing up with the only things shown to them being hatred and fear. From the crazed sound of that boy's voice... I'd say he turned into a killer as an escape from the hatred, and instead reveling in the fear..."

Naruto gulped as he looked at the large creature encased in the ice. "Now that you mention it... his eyes... I remember seeing those same eyes in the mirror when I was younger... full of loneliness, and hatred for the world... wanting to show the world that if they treated me like a monster, then that was what they were going to get..."

Naruto sighed as he looked back at Akira. "....if I didn't get friends, then I'd probably have turned into that as well. ...I've made up my mind. I'm gonna beat you to a pulp, unfreeze Gaara, and be the friend he needs!"

Akira's frame tremored a bit. "Y-you? Beat me? UNFREEZE him? And.... kehehe... Kehehehehehehehe...." He threw his head back, arms spread wide. "KEHAHAHAHAHAHA! OH, what a riot!" He put a hand on his head, his eyes wide open and a maniacal grin on his face. "You crack me up, boy!"

Shijou looked at his partner again. "...he wasn't kidding when he said you weren't quite right in the head."

Akira growled, and glared at the giant panda-man. "Shut it. Keep that up and I might take on the boy anyways. Go and fight already before I do."

Shijou sighed. "Be that way..." He took a few steps forward, and assumed a sumo pose, raising his legs one at a time and stomping them into the ground while he had his arms on them. He then took a more regular fighting stance- his legs were the same, but he held one hand in front of him and one by his head, both in open palms. Naruto noted that it looked like one of the pervy sage's kabuki poses, from the waist up anyways. His legs tensed, and then he charged towards the group of genin.

Shikamaru grunted, and stood in front of Naruto. "We've got this one... Naruto."

Akira's eyes widened ever so slightly. _Maybe I should tell him that that boy has... nah. I kind of want to take them on myself, so letting him get beat to a pulp would be a good thing for me._

Shikamaru smirked as his shadow rose to his side. "Come on then... _Kage Koumori Kogeki!_" His shadow split into the many small bat like creatures once more and flew towards Shijou.

Shijou growled. "That kind of attack won't work on me!" He hit one with his open palm/paw, and it was sent flying so hard that it hit the far wall of the arena and left a large indent on it. However, it was just one of many. They all swarmed around Shijou, occasionally biting and and getting in his face, but one by one he swatted them away with such force as to leave indents in the ground, until there were no longer any around him. He grunted as he planted a foot into the ground, which Naruto could've sworn made the ground shake. "Please be so kind as to surrender. _Now_."

Shikamaru's smirk didn't fade. "Please... you couldn't touch me if you tried."

Shijou's eyes narrowed. "We shall see about that." He raised his right arm, but then he froze. "What...? How?"

Shikamaru smirked. "You swatted a couple of those bats right into your own shadow, where I had them merge with it so I could take control of your body with _Kage Kugetsu_. Of course, I could've gone for that from the beginning, but where's the fun in that, honestly?"

Chouji took out a case of pills and took out the first, green one. "I'll make the next move." He swallowed the pill, and all of a sudden Naruto could feel his chakra spike. He molded a few handseals as he stepped to the front of the group of genin. "_Bubun Baika no Jutsu! Arm!_" Naruto was amazed as his arm grew to gigantic proportions- as tall as Shijou, if not taller. Chouji thrust his arm forward, and Shijou was punched hard enough to get sent tumbling back to Akira.

Shijou slowly got up, no longer under the influence of Shikamaru's shadow as it had vacated right before he had been punched. "The things ninja are capable of... why am I surprised, considering I'm a giant panda-human monster?"

Akira shook his head. "Now, now... 'monster' is such an ugly word."

Shijou snorted. "And jinchuriki isn't?"

Akira shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever floats your boat."

Shijou seemed to smirk. "Ironic, coming from you."

Akira's eyes opened enough to make a convincing glare. "That's the past. This is now. Get to work beating those brats. I'm gonna take this other jinchuriki out of the ice and take him with us."

Naruto's eyes widened. "I won't let you!"

"And neither will *cough* we!"

Naruto's eyes widened even further when he saw that all of the Konoha shinobi who had been fighting before were now jumping into the arena, their foes defeated. Sasuke stepped forward from his place next to Kakashi. "I suggest you give up. As powerful as you are, you can't take on all of us."

Akira sighed. "Just when it was getting to the good part, too... ah, well." He walked over to the large ice-statue and put his hand on it. "Well, see ya!" A large crack tore through the ice from Akira's hand, which spider-webbed into many small cracks all throughout the ice. A moment later, the ice exploded, sending shards showering over the many shinobi. Some of them were fairly large, knocking out one shinobi instantly when it hit him in the head. Naruto dashed through the hail, intent on getting to Akira. Akira waved at him and jumped towards the center of the where the creature had been, and caught Gaara as he fell. He turned to Shijou. "Let's move!" Shijou nodded, and dashed to Akira faster than Naruto could, as Naruto was no longer under the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra. Naruto swore as they ran through a gap in the shinobi created by several large pieces of ice, jumped up the walls of the arena, and disappeared from sight. Naruto tried to go after them, but one final piece of ice struck him in the back of the head. He didn't even have the chance to curse before he hit the ground, unconscious.

--

When Naruto woke up again, his first thought was that everything seemed too bright. Then, he noticed something- there were people in this room. This room being a hospital room. He looked around- he could see Hinata and Shikamaru, who were talking about something. He couldn't really make it out, his ears seemed fogged over, if that was even an appropriate analogy- which it probably wasn't. "Ugh... guys? What... happened?"

Shikamaru snorted lightly. "You got knocked out by one of those pieces of hail before you could go after Akira and that other guy. The invasion's over now- we won. They lost. Completely, and utterly."

Naruto smiled. "That's... good. But Gaara..."

Shikamaru sighed. "It's too late, I suppose."

Naruto gripped his sheets. "...it's never too late. I made a promise, and I never go back on my word. I'm gonna save Gaara from those guys, no matter what it takes."

Hinata blushed. "N-Naruto..."

The door opened, and in walked 'Ero-sennin'. Naruto suddenly realized he still didn't know the man's name. "Hey, Naruto, you're awake. I heard about your performance at the Chunin Exams, quite impressive."

Naruto smirked. "Thanks, Ero-sennin."

The man growled, but shrugged it off. "Anyways, the doctor said you were free to go as soon as you were awake. Come on, want to see if we can go meet up with the Hokage?"

Naruto's eyes widened. "He's here?!"

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "He's an old man, Naruto. Merely exerting himself will land him in the hospital. He managed to fend off Orochimaru just long enough for his forces to get wiped out, and then the old snake retreated. I'm sure I have enough pull to get us into his room. Come on!"

Naruto rolled out of the bed, and snapped on his sandals, which were on the floor next to a chair that his jacket was lying in. He quickly put on his jacket, and then was about to walk out the door, when he turned to Shikamaru and Hinata. "Thanks, you guys... for back in the arena... you're the best." Hinata's blush devoured her face, while Shikamaru smirked and gave a mutter of 'troublesome as always'. Naruto turned to his sensei of the past month. "Alright, let's go see the old man, then!"

'Ero-sennin' growled. "Kid, he's the Hokage, show him some respect! Or do you not want respect when _you're_ Hokage?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out at the old man he was with. "I've called him Old Man all my life! Not gonna change!"

--

Naruto watched as his sensei knocked on the door to the room in a little 'dun-dundundun-dun... dun-dun!'. Unknown to most, his rhythmical knocking was actually a secret code that he had established with the Hokage a long time ago. A voice came from the other side. "Come in, Jiraiya."

The now identified Jiraiya opened the door, and walked in, Naruto behind him. Hiruzen gave a grin when he saw who Jiraiya had brought with him. "Naruto! I see you're awake!"

Naruto noticed the IV sticking into the Hokage's arm. "Geez, you must've really hurt yourself or something, huh?"

Hiruzen rolled his eyes. "No, they just don't trust me to feed myself correctly while I'm in here. I swear, they're overreacting. Anyways, I want to hear about what happened with that Gaara character. Do you know where all that ice came from? I've only gotten vague reports on the matter."

Naruto stiffened. "It's... I don't really know myself. This guy, I think his name was Yuumei Akira, and this black-haired kid show up. Akira asks me if I'm Uzumaki Naruto, at which point Hinata tells me that this guy is after me for some reason. Then, Gaara attacks, and he raises his hand and poof, Gaara's entire sand-body was frozen."

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "No handseals or anything?"

Naruto shook his head. "No... Shikamaru then listed off details about the guy- his name, that he has some kind of ice-type fruit of some kind, and that he was giving similar fruit to people in exchange for... their ability to swim, I think? I don't remember."

Hiruzen frowned. "Hmm... this is the first I've heard of this. And you said Shikamaru and Hinata seemed to know about this?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah..."

Hiruzen stroked his small beard. "If these fruits give out power... then maybe that's where a few certain genin, Shikamaru included, have been getting their strange jutsu from... after all, the jutsu Shikamaru used against Kin was far too advanced for a genin to even know... and then there's Kiba and that werewolf thing..."

Naruto's realized something. "Hey, that kid with Akira was a were-panda!"

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed considerably. "Jiraiya, do you know who any of these people are?"

Jiraiya nodded his head in affirmation. "Shikamaru and Hinata were in the room with Naruto when I dropped by. Want me to go get them?"

Hiruzen nodded back. As Jiraiya left, Sarutobi looked back towards Naruto, his gaze softening. "So... it looks like your training in the past month really paid off. You can use... your special chakra rather well now, can't you?"

Naruto flinched. "Yeah.... about that... apparently that Akira guy is out to get me because of it."

Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock. "He what?!?"

Naruto nodded. "Worse than that... he revealed my secret to Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino."

Hiruzen pounded his fist into the bedside table, as it was the only thing hard he could pound his hand on in reach. "...he had _no right_ to do such a thing. He may not be a citizen of Konoha, but rest assured he will be _punished_ for breaking one of our highest of laws. ...How... did they take it?"

Naruto sighed, and smiled. "Rather well, actually. Hinata... said she'll always be my friend. Shikamaru said it'd be 'too troublesome' to hate me... Chouji says if Shikamaru doesn't care, he doesn't care, and Shino said it just 'wouldn't be logical' to hate me."

Hiruzen slid into his sheets. "I'll have to have a talk with them to make sure they don't reveal it to anyone else... I guess I'll start with Shikamaru and Hinata when they get here." Hiruzen sighed as a few moments of silence passed. He decided to break the silence- and the wait for Shikamaru and Hinata- with some idle talk. "So, what do you think of your chances for chunin?"

Naruto hung his head, slightly depressed. "....just because I thoroughly trashed Sasuke doesn't mean I even have a remote chance for it. I pulled off all of one intelligent move in that entire fight."

Hiruzen smirked at Naruto's humble attitude. "Ah, but that was all you really had time for. Not only that, but that move won you the match in a short amount of time. It also showed foresight- you had planned ahead for such an attack and had placed yourself underground in case he tried that. I say that that's a good quality for a chunin to have."

Naruto blushed at the praise. "Thanks... old man. But it _was_ my... special chakra that allowed me to win. Sasuke told me that he had an ability that prevented physical damage, and... I think that my chakra allowed me to circumvent it."

Hiruzen gave a slight chuckle. "You know, Naruto, pressing an advantage even though it might seem unfair to do so is also a good trait to have. One would be foolish if they gave up their advantage to make a fight last longer. Unless that is your mission, but still."

Naruto nodded. "I'll... keep that in mind."

The door opened again, and in walked Jiraiya followed by Hinata and Shikamaru. Hinata looked nervous, while Shikamaru had the same face he always held when he was caught by his teachers skipping class back at the Academy. It contained annoyance, and it would scream that he had some very sarcastic thoughts in his mind, but this was Shikamaru here- he didn't scream. Hiruzen looked them over, and Hinata shrunk into herself, while Shikamaru put his right hand on his left shoulder and rolled his head. Hiruzen sighed. "Please... I want to know what you know about this Yuumei Akira person."

Shikamaru uttered his catch phrase and began talking about what had happened between him and Akira, what Akira had been up to, what he had done to Hinata, and most recently what he had attempted- and had gotten away with- during the exams. Naruto wasn't too surprised to hear that Sasuke's power had come from an Akuma no Mi. Hiruzen sighed. "I see... Why did you keep these things from your superiors?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Both Asuma and my dad know about it. At least, they know about me. You should talk to them about it if you feel like it."

Hiruzen sighed. "I see... that being said, I'm sure you know that that wasn't the only reason I called you here."

Shikamaru closed his eyes for a second. "It's about Naruto, right?"

Hiruzen nodded, glad that Shikamaru was so intelligent. "Yes... I don't want you to reveal to _anyone_ that you know. Under normal circumstances even just talking about it can get you severely punished. Revealing it to those who don't know... well, let's just say that it's not something you want to experience. Am I clear, Shikamaru? Hinata?"

Hinata nodded, while Shikamaru let out a sigh. "I figured that that was probably the case... the secret's safe with me, at least. I'll make sure to tell Chouji when I see him again."

Hinata spoke up for the first time since she had arrived. "I-I'll tell Shino when I see him again, as well."

Hiruzen smiled at the young shinobi before him. "Thank you. It means a lot to me... me and Naruto both."

Hinata blushed. "I-if it's for Naruto... I'll do anything to help."

Naruto grinned. "Thanks a lot, Hinata! You're the best!"

Hinata's blush deepened, and she moved so that she was mostly behind Jiraiya. Jiraiya only smirked at her behavior, but made no mention of what was on his mind. However, something else then came to mind. "If you're done with these two, you mind sending them off? I have something I need to report to you... Naruto can stay, it concerns him."

Hiruzen nodded. "You two are dismissed. I'll send Naruto along when we're done."

They nodded, and with a quiet goodbye from Hinata to Naruto they left. Hiruzen turned his focus back to Jiraiya. "What's this about now?"

Jiraiya sighed. "It's Akatsuki. They're on the move again."

Naruto tilted his head. "Akatsuki? Who are they?"

Jiraiya sighed. "They're a secret organization of mostly S-Class missing-nin."

Naruto nodded warily. "So they're super powerful bad guys? What's that got to do with me?"

Jiraiya eyed Naruto carefully. "You see... just like that Yuumei character... they're after jinchuriki as well."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wh-what?!"

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes... we don't know why, but they seem particularly interested in jinchuriki. We don't know anything about their plans, but what we do know is that we need to protect you from them."

Naruto grit his teeth in anger. "Why... why can't people like me and Gaara live normal lives?"

Hiruzen slid further into his sheets. "I wish you could, Naruto... I wish you could."

**Kasek: **Whoa, 4487 words? That's a record for this story! How did this chapter get to be so darn long? XD

Hope the scene with Naruto's secret being revealed wasn't _too_ lame.

OC Gourisei Shijou belongs to animefan11950. I hope I portrayed him reasonably well. His fruit is probably the only one that is going to be an original fruit created for this story: Kuma Kuma no Mi: Model Panda. It was either use it for this or take forever to use it in Kitsu Kitsu, which has enough Zoans as it is.

I welcome theories on what the heck they're gonna do with Gaara ;p Also welcome are theories on just who/what Akira/Shijou are. By now I have a definite picture in my head of what's going on here.

Oh! Just got a great idea for another character to put on Akira's side! *jots down notes*

Also, ideas for character/fruit combinations are still more than welcome. Sakura and the Hana Hana no Mi? Ino and the Supa Supa no Mi? ....Itachi and the Gomu Gomu no Mi? Let me know!

Oops, forgot!

_Kage Koumori Kogeki_: Shadow Bat Attack

_Bubun Baika no Jutsu_: Partial Expansion Technique.

Jinchuriki: Power of Human Sacrifice


	10. Chapter 10

**Kasek: **This is a short chapter, so I decided to do a double update. Here you go, part one of the double update!

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece. OCs belong to their respective owners.**

Naruto had asked for special permission from the Hokage to visit Temari and Kankuro in prison to talk with them about Gaara- he got it. Currently, he was walking (along with Jiraiya, who insisted on being his bodyguard, and Ibiki, who was in charge of the place) down the long line of cells in the underground war prison. At the very end of the long hallway was an iron door- it was meant for high-priority prisoners. It turned out Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara were the children of the Kazekage. Ibiki inserted a key into the lock under the door handle and twisted, and then pushed down on the handle and pulled the door open. Naruto and Jiraiya walked inside, Ibiki closing the or behind them. Temari and Kankuro- both chained to the far wall- didn't even look up. Naruto sighed. "I need to talk to you... about Gaara."

Both of them visibly stiffened. Temari spoke first. "What have you done with my little brother?"

Naruto looked to the side- it was okay for him to visibly react if they weren't looking at him. "......we didn't do anything to him. If anything, I wanted to save him, but... some super powerful- and by super powerful I mean godlike- ninja named Yuumei Akira came by, stopped him in his tracks, and kidnapped him. Right in the middle of the invasion."

Temari looked up and glared at him. "You're _lying_. Nobody could beat Gaara."

Naruto looked into her eyes. "I wish I was. Gaara had used this technique to create a giant monster out of sand, and Yuumei... froze it in a block ice in an instant. He then shattered the ice- destroying the monster- and then he took Gaara and left."

Temari glared at the wall to the side. "...and why do you care? He tried to kill you all."

Naruto gulped. They would understand... probably. "Gaara and I... have a common bond. If I had even one less person in my life, I very well could have turned out like him. I... when I had heard about... what his life must've been like... I had the sudden urge to reach out to him, become that one person he needed... but by then it was too late."

By now both Kankuro and Temari were looking at this strange boy who claimed to be like Gaara. Temari spoke up again. "...and what do you want from us?"

Naruto gulped again. "Please... I want to know... what his life was like. Who he was, and why he is. I know you don't have to tell me anything, but..."

Kankuro sighed. "....darn it, you're a smooth talker. I hate smooth talkers. ...I'll talk."

Temari's eyes widened, before softening again. "...I'll talk too."

Ibiki smiled at the display. _This kid... he knows exactly what to say. I haven't been able to get them to talk at all. Then again, I'm not allowed to touch them, but still... he has a bright future ahead of him._

--

Gaara growled as he looked over the side of the small boat. His hands and feet were bound, and his sand gourd had been left behind somewhere before he had regained consciousness. It was a miracle in and of itself the Shukaku hadn't taken over when he had been knocked out by... whatever it was. This... person who was rowing the boat. He called himself Yuumei Akira. He claimed to be the one who had defeated him. Gaara didn't know how he had been able to do it- in an instant, no less- but Gaara didn't doubt it, as the moment he attacked him was his last conscious moment before awakening on this boat. Another boy his age- Gourisei Shijou- sat idly, leaning on the edge of the boat, gazing into the waters, possibly staring at his own reflection. Gaara noted that they were on the open ocean, and that far behind them was land. Too far for him to summon any sand to himself from the ocean floor, even with Shukaku's help. Not that he could get it right now, his hands were bound and he couldn't perform the necessary handseal to do it.

Akira stopped rowing, and stood up. "Ah... this ought to be a good enough spot."

Gaara's eyes widened. "You... you're going to dump me in the water, aren't you?"

Akira smiled. "Why would I do that? That's what I have Shijou for."

Shijou grumbled something, and then turned into some kind of giant bear. Gaara didn't recognize the black-and-white fur patterns. He then picked up Gaara, and held him over the edge of the boat. Gaara glared at Akira as Akira waved at him. "Bye~bye!" Shijou let go, and Gaara fell into the water, and quickly sank. Gaara could hear Shukaku screaming in the back of his mind as darkness overtook his vision.

--

Naruto stood at the entrance to the village, waiting for Jiraiya. Jiraiya wanted to take Naruto on his wanderings and teach the boy how to become a much better ninja. Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, Shino, and Kiba had come to see him off. Kiba was the first to talk. "You take care of yourself out there, alright? I don't want to hear that you lost to some weakling because you were careless."

Naruto smirked back. "I'm better than that, Kiba."

Shikamaru sighed. "You're so troublesome, Naruto. However, even I admit that you'd be an asset against that Akira guy. Get done with your training as fast as possible, alright?"

Naruto gave him a thumbs-up. "You can count on me! I'll wipe the floor with that Yuumei guy, and get back Gaara!"

Hinata held out her hands, and Naruto could see that it was the same container that she had tried to offer to him after his match with Kiba. "Huh? Medicinal cream?"

Hinata gulped. "I-In case you hurt yourself during training..."

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Hinata! You're the best!" Hinata blushed as he accepted the small container and put it in a pocket of his jacket.

Jiraiya appeared out of nowhere, and smirked when he saw Hinata blushing. "So, kid, ready to go?"

Naruto nodded, but before he could say something he was interrupted. "Naruto!"

Naruto looked, and was surprised to see Sakura approaching. "Sakura? What are you doing here?"

Sakura panted for a second before straightening her posture and her composure. "Just... wanted to wish you good luck with your training. With you gone, we're going off missions for a while and are going to do just training, so expect me to be stronger when you come back!"

Naruto grinned. "Well, it'd be weird if you weren't!"

Jiraiya gave a soft smile. "Alright, kid, time to get going. Don't expect me to go easy on you like I did in the month before the exam finals."

Naruto's grin didn't fade a bit. "Wouldn't want it any other way!"

--

Akira smiled as he looked up at the clouds. "So... how do you like it... Gaara?"

Gaara was sitting on the far end of the boat, eyes closed. He opened them, and you could see that the whites of his eyes had turned black, leaving the green in his eyes all alone in a sea of darkness. "......it's nice not having to listen to Shukaku."

Akira's smile widened. "Really, now?"

Gaara nodded. "It's... odd. I have access to his chakra, yet he does not command it." He held out his palm, and a miniature sand tornado appeared. When the tornado cleared, a small sand statue of Gaara's gigantic beast form stood in his hand. "And... this new power... Now I don't have to carry around that gourd anymore."

Akira nodded. "Kehehe... And just wait until you find out all of the stuff you couldn't do with jutsu!"

Gaara glared at him. "As long as I get to kill people, I don't care. Especially Uzumaki."

Akira chuckled again. "Don't worry, you'll get your chance again, if fate has anything to say about it..."

--

Two figures- dressed in black robes with red clouds, with straw hats with paper strips hanging down the sides- stood in a tree, looking down at the streets of Konoha. The shorter one stiffened when the wind blew, rustling his robes and chiming the small bell he wore on his hat. "...A black wind blows..."

His taller partner, who had a large bandaged package on his back, turned to the shorter one. "...Itachi? Are you alright?"

'Itachi' shook his head. "...it's nothing, Kisame. ...why don't we hit the sweets shop down there? I could use a snack and a drink."

'Kisame' chuckled. "You and your sweets... alright, then. Guess it couldn't hurt to stop before searching for the Kyuubi."

--

**Kasek:** Real short one to make up for the lengthiness of the last one. Kidding! I just don't have much to say this time around, that's all.

Another piece of the puzzle that is Akira and co. is added. What does dumping someone into the sea have to do with getting Akuma no Mi powers? Kehehe, wouldn't you like to know. Also, you can really tell I identify Akira with Ichimaru Gin, can't you? Kehehe.


	11. Chapter 11

**Kasek:** Part two of the double update! This chapter is, like, twice as long as the last one.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece. OCs belong to their respective owners.**

--

Naruto sighed to himself as he and Jiraiya walked down the road. "Hey, ero-sennin... why are you teaching me, anyways? Is it because I'm..." His hand drifted to his stomach, where the seal for the Kyuubi was.

Jiraiya gave his own sigh. "You want to know the truth, huh? Alright then. The Yondaime Hokage was my old apprentice, and you resemble him. Simple as that."

Naruto's eyes widened in awe. "The... Yondaime Hokage...?"

Jiraiya nodded. "The resemblance is uncanny... you even have the same determination to succeed. But I dare say he was far more intelligent than you were."

Naruto didn't seem to mind the strike against his ego. "The Yondaime Hokage... hehehe. I can't wait to get training!"

--

'Itachi' and 'Kisame' stood on a rocky outcropping in the forest. They no longer wore their hats, revealing their true faces- Itachi was a black-haired young man with Sharingan eyes, while Kisame was as his name suggested, extremely shark like, down to the blue skin and gill markings on his cheeks. Kisame's blue hair swayed in the wind. "This is going to be tough... that man is more than a match for even one of Konoha's finest and one of Kiri's Seven Swordsmen."

Itachi sat on the edge of the rock. "...even the strongest of men have weaknesses."

--

Sasuke opened the door into Kakashi's room. The first detail that he noticed was that there were three jonin in the room, Kakashi sleeping in his bed excluded. "What the...? Why is Kakashi sleeping? Why are you three even here while he's doing that?"

Gai tried his best not to look suspicious. He failed miserably. "Umm... nothing, really..."

A man with black hair and glasses burst into the room behind Sasuke. "Is it true that Itachi has returned?! And that he's also after Naruto?!"

Kurenai facepalmed. "Idiot..."

Asuma grumbled Shikamaru's catchphrase as Sasuke dashed out of the room. Gai got up and ran as soon as Sasuke made a dash for the door. "Where do you think you're going?!" He chased Sasuke to the outside of the building, where Sasuke glowed blue for a second before disappearing in a crack of thunder. Gai grit his teeth. "Great... the boy's going to get himself killed."

Sasuke came to a stop outside of Ichiraku Ramen. _If Itachi gets his hands on Naruto... even with that weird power of his, he wouldn't stand a chance!_ He stepped into the restaurant, and saw old man Teuchi washing some dishes. "Hey, old man! Naruto normally comes here for lunch. Do you know where he went?"

Teuchi sighed. Kids these days... "Yeah. He left the village to go train with Jiraiya. He said his first stop was the hotel town down the cattle road."

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Jiraiya?"

Teuchi nodded, and held up three fingers. "One of the legendary sannin! Big guy with white hair, you can't miss him."

Sasuke nodded and ran, yelling a "Thanks!" back to Teuchi before turning into a lightning bolt.

Teuchi grumbled to himself. "Could've had a bite to eat..."

--

Gai turned to the gate guards. "Hey, who's gone through here today?"

One of the guards looked at a list. "Uh... some civilians, Jiraiya and Naruto, and most recently a lightning bolt."

Gai swore to himself. "Thanks for the info. If you'll excuse me, I have a lightning bolt to catch."

As he left, one of the guards turned to his partner. "You know, Kotetsu, I don't think they pay us enough for this..."

--

Naruto grumbled as he sat in the hotel room, concentrating on summoning the Kyuubi's chakra. It was 'training' Jiraiya had put him up to after he spotted an extremly beautiful woman who seemed interested in him. Naruto's concentration was interrupted when he heard a knock on the door. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming..." He opened the door, and was surprised to see Sasuke standing there, panting. "Sasuke? What are you doing here?"

Sasuke straightened himself out. "Good... I got here before Itachi did..."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Who's Itachi?"

"That would be me."

Sasuke turned and fired a miniature lightning bolt at the offending speaker, which was dodged by a tilt of the head. "...quite an impressive power. I didn't even see any chakra go into it."

Sasuke growled. "Itachi... I'm going to _kill_ you."

Naruto stepped into the hallway, and his eyes widened- black cloaks with red clouds... "Akatsuki."

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "So you've heard of us, then, Naruto?"

Naruto clenched his fists. He let all of the Kyuubi's chakra that he had been summoning flow into his body. "I hate people like you... who treat people like me as things..."

Kisame chuckled. "People like us? You don't understand... there's nobody like us."

Naruto snarled. "Akatsuki, Yuumei Akira and those he works with... I'll beat them all into the ground!" He disappeared, and in a moment he was in front of Kisame. Kisame's eyes widened as he brought his bandaged package in front of him, gripping what appeared to be a hilt. Naruto kicked off of it, and the force of it made Kisame's feet drag on the ground as he skidded a few feet. Naruto crouched on the ceiling, and then made a beeline for Itachi. Itachi jumped back as Naruto left a very large hole in the floorboards with his fist. Naruto wasn't done yet- he leapt after Itachi mere fractions of a second after he punched the floor, and attempted to knee him in the stomach. Itachi threw out his fist to punch Naruto, attempting to intercept him, but even at the speed he was going Naruto managed to twist out of the way and instead of kneeing him in the stomach, he kicked Itachi in the face. He braced himself as Kisame hit him with the flat of the bandaged object, sending him sailing down the hallway like a baseball. He landed on his hands and feet, skidding backwards several inches.

Itachi rubbed his cheek. "...he's stronger than he looks. I actually felt that."

Kisame growled. "He has the advantage in this crowded space. Want me to force him outside?"

Itachi shook his head. "No... we leave this area and _he'll_ notice us. We just need to be more subtle than the usual, that's all."

Kisame chuckled. "Me? Subtle? That's like telling a bull in a china shop to run around without breaking anything."

Sasuke grit his teeth in anger. "Ignore me, will you?" His entire arm became covered in electricity. Then, the rest of his body followed. "Uchiha Itachi... I'LL KILL YOU!" There was a crack of thunder as Sasuke raced across the hallway at a speed that not even the Sharingan should be able to see... and yet Itachi was able to punch Sasuke in the face, hard enough to send him flying back to Naruto, rolling on the floor. Sasuke slowly got back up. "First Naruto, and now even you... how do people keep hitting me after I've converted my entire body into electricity?!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he got up. "...he's using haki."

Sasuke turned to his teammate. "Haki? What's that?"

Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Ah, so you know of it, Naruto? Haki is an energy that anyone with sufficient willpower can use... yet compared to the usage chakra sees, it is but a drop of potent poison in a vast ocean of water."

Naruto nodded. "Haki gives increased offensive and defensive capabilities to the user, as well as the ability to predict the future... and from what I can guess, the ability to harm an Akuma no Mi user even when it shouldn't be possible."

Kisame chuckled. "This is the first I've heard of this ability, Itachi... maybe you can teach it to me sometime?"

Itachi eyed his partner. "Perhaps... but you are insanely strong regardless. Now then... I think I know a way to put the odds in our favor a little..." He narrowed his eyes, and all of a sudden Naruto felt a great pressure on his body. He fell to his knees, and he realized he was having a hard time breathing. He looked at Sasuke, who was now unconscious. He looked back at Itachi. "What... did you just... do?"

Itachi's eyebrow, which had gone down earlier, raised once more. "I'm surprised, considering you were using this aspect of haki on me earlier. It is the ability to put pressure on your enemies. Those unable to withstand it collapse. Then again, your grasp of haki seems... limited, right now. Perhaps we could rectify that if you were to come with us?"

Naruto growled. "And what makes you think I'm going to come with you?!"

Itachi seemed to smirk, but it was hard to tell with his cloak covering his face. "What makes you think you have a choice?" Naruto's eyes widened when he saw Itachi's Sharingan... well, the only word he could think of was mutate. And then, darkness enclosed his vision.

--

Naruto woke up with a start. Where was he...? He looked around frantically. He realized he was in the sewers that represented his inner world, where some corridors lead to memories and at least one lead to the seal where the Kyuubi no Youko was held. He flinched when he heard the beast roar, and he dashed through the corridors until he found one with a red glow, and then headed down it. He soon came to the large chamber where the Kyuubi was sealed, and he could see Itachi standing calmly in front of the cage while the great fox raged and thrashed behind the bars. "**I'll kill you, Uchiha! I'll tear you to shreds! And then I'll find Madara, living or dead, and tear him to shreds, too!**"  
**  
**Itachi seemed overtly calm for someone facing such a monster. "You will do no such thing. At least, the killing me part. I've come here to make a deal with you."

The great Kyuubi no Youko seemed to calm down a bit. "**Oh? A deal? Huhuhuhuh... interesting. You could make me do whatever you want with that wretched Mangekyou Sharingan, yet you presume to bargain with me. What does this deal entail?**"

Itachi sighed. "I want you to learn to work together with Naruto. In exchange, I will teach the boy how to use both yours and his powers to full effect in battle, so that when the time truly comes for Akatsuki to take his life and seal you away... they won't be able to. In fact, Naruto may even become strong enough to kill Akatsuki... Madara is one of them. I can't give my honor as an Uchiha, as I have none. I cannot give my honor as a Konoha ninja, as I am not one. I cannot give my honor as a member of Akatsuki, for we are criminals."

The Kyuubi stared blankly at Itachi. A wide grin came over its features. "**My, my... you tell me that if I don't work together with you then your pals will kill** **the boy and seal me away somewhere else, hmm? Well... as far as I'm aware, if the boy dies then I'll go free... so I'd rather just wait for the boy's death to come naturally than to possibly wait an eternity for another chance at freedom. So even without the promise of killing Madara, you have a deal. I'll keep that as a possible bonus.** **You need not worry about swearing on your honor, for after all, you are a shinobi and I am a demon- where could one find enough honor for one man between the two of us?**"

Itachi bowed politely. "Thank you for your time." He turned around, and saw that Naruto was standing there. "Ah... I didn't realize that you would come along for the ride."

Naruto grit his teeth. "Why should I go along with what you and the stupid fox agreed with?! I was going to train with Jiraiya of the legendary sannin! I bet he could teach me all sorts of cool jutsu that you can't!"

Itachi nodded. "That is most likely true... but at the same time, there are things that I can teach you that he can't. For instance, I know all about haki. I also hear you are an adept with Kage Bunshin- I have a few jutsu that involve those, as well. I am probably the first shinobi since your mother to specialize in it so much."

Naruto froze. "My... mother?"

Itachi nodded. "As a former AnBu captain, I had a very high security clearance... and one of the files I discovered was that of your parentage. I'll tell you who they are right now- Uzumaki Kushina, former shinobi of the Land of Whirpools, and Namikaze Minato... also known as the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto fell to his knees. "My father... was the Yondaime Hokage?"

Itachi blinked. "Ah... Sorry, but I'll have to cut this conversation short. It seems someone is about to arrive."

--

Naruto blinked- he was back in the hallway. He realized he was lying on the floor, and that he had no strength in his body left. _Ugh... what did he do to me_?

Itachi grunted. "Let's go. Someone's coming."

Kisame nodded. "Right..."

Itachi dashed towards Naruto and scooped him up, dropping a piece of paper as he did so, and ran off with him, Kisame right behind. A few moments after they turned the corner, Jiraiya appeared on the scene, and swore when he saw an unconscious Sasuke. He saw the piece of paper as well, and picked it up. "What is... this?!?" He read it over carefully- it was a letter of apology from Itachi, explaining what he was going to do with Naruto and what Akatsuki's plans were. It stated that it would still be a couple of years before it would even be possible to extract the Kyuubi from Naruto, and in that time Itachi would train Naruto to become strong enough to defeat Akatsuki. If he was unable to do so within the time frame, he would return Naruto to Konoha and betray Akatsuki at the same time, lowering their power. Jiraiya looked at Sasuke as he began to awaken, and put the paper away. "Hey, kid, you alright?"

Sasuke looked up. "Ji...raiya?" His eyes widened frantically. "Itachi?!? Where is he?! I'm going to kill him!"

Jiraiya sighed. "Itachi escaped... with Naruto."

Sasuke swore. "Why... why wasn't I strong enough?!? I couldn't kill my brother... I couldn't even save my comrade... I'm a failure as a shinobi..."

Jiraiya sighed again. "Look, kid... let's... just get you back to the village, alright? We can work out the details at a later date."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he looked behind Jiraiya. "Look out!"

Jiraiya turned around just in time to catch Gai's foot as he yelled "Dynamic Entry!" Gai landed on his other foot, and Jiraiya let go. Gai chuckled nervously. "Um... oops?"

--

Hiruzen pinched his nose as Jiraiya gave him the report on what had happened. "This will _not_ sit over well with the council... not one bit."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Are you going to have to reveal... _that_ secret? I know, the elders know, but nobody else does."

The old Hokage took a long puff of his pipe. "I very well may have to... to the council at the very least. Who knows hw we're going to handle the Sasuke factor..."

Jiraiya scratched his nose. "Yeah... kid hates his brother's guts. It would turn his world upside down if we told him to trust Itachi on this one."

Hiruzen sighed. "Anyways... any news on Kakashi's condition?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "Nope, nothing. At this rate I'm going to have to see if I can get Tsunade to come back and see what she can do."

Hiruzen leaned back into his chair. "Ah... I might come along on that trip. I'm getting too old to be Hokage, so I want to see if she'd like the job."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Why her? Why aren't I your first choice?"

Hiruzen gave Jiraiya a flat stare. "...we both know the reason for that, Jiraiya."

Jiraiya chuckled at what was implied. "Yeah, yeah... I wouldn't be my first choice either. In fact, even if you offered it to me I wouldn't take it."

Hiruzen coughed into his hand. "At any rate... I guess Team 7 will have to be taken off missions until further notice. Sasuke's a little mentally unstable at the moment anyways... I've made sure to tell him not to tell anyone that Itachi took Naruto. The cover story is that you have him still."

Jiraiya snorted. "I wish... I wanted to be the one to take care of the boy, due to him being my godson and all, but... Itachi was considered to be one of the greatest shinobi this village has ever produced... darn it, I miss the boy already."

Hiruzen sighed, a large amount of smoke escaping his mouth. "So do I, Jiraiya. So do I."

--

Sakura panted heavily as she stood before one of the training posts. She had been told that Naruto's vacation with Jiraiya was now going to take a couple of years. "Now that Naruto is gone, Sasuke is going to be training with me... I have to get stronger, no matter what!"

"Kehehe... do you now?"

Sakura took out a kunai, her fingers tightening around the handle. "Who's there?" Her green eyes were wide as someone walked into the clearing. She noted that with every step the plant life around his feet froze. "Who... are you?"

Akira gave his signature smile. "Kehehe... just someone who... likes to make people stronger."

--

**Kasek:** And that's chapter 11. You know, the whole thing with Itachi came as a result of "Why would they be kidnapping Naruto first if they need to seal him last?" Answer: Itachi had some personal reasons to do so. And so, this brings about the time skip that I hadn't quite thought would appear yet. The "Itachi kidnaps Naruto" bit was totally spur of the moment, but I'm kind of glad that I'm going through with it. I gave him haki specifically so he could train Naruto XD You know, I have no idea why Sasuke is angsting over losing Naruto. It's totally out of character for him. Oh well, I needed a reason for him to hate Itachi a bit more than he already did. Maybe Sasuke came to acknowledge Naruto as a comrade after he got beaten in the finals? Meh.

Also, anyone care to guess what fruit Sakura is going to get? I already have a fruit in mind (and ways for her to use it), but if you somehow manage to convince me to use something else, then I might switch. Or I might not even have one at all, if you feel like trying to convince me not to. Ambiguous endings are good for that kind of thing.


	12. Chapter 12

**Kasek: **Here it is, the timeskip. From Naruto's side, anyways. I might focus on the others next chapter.

**Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor One Piece**

Naruto blocked Kisame's sword with his katana, pouring as much haki as he could into the blade. "Eat... THIS!" He pushed the blade away, but before he could attack again, he jumped to his left, and two feet attached to very long legs stamped the ground where he had been standing. The legs shrunk in length as the body they were attached to- a boy about twelve years old- came down from the air.

Naruto had changed over the past couple of years. Instead of his old orange ensemble, he wore a regular black t-shirt with netting in the v-neck and black pants, on top of which he wore a dark orange armor set- breastplate and matching backplate, shin guards, and arm guards. He also had the katana's sheath at his side- it was rather plain. The sword itself had a unique tsuba that looked very much like the spiral often seen on the backs of Konoha ninja.

He looked his new opponent over. He had brown hair that framed his face and went down to the bottom of his neck, and he had a rope tied around his head fisherman-style. He also wore fisherman-style clothes, with the short-sleeved top and shorts, as well as straw sandals. Naruto grinned as he put his katana into its sheath and settled into a taijutsu stance. "If you wanted to spar with me that badly, all you had to do was ask, Inari."

'Inari' smirked. "And where would the fun in that be? Besides, you have to keep on your toes at all times in a fight."

Naruto smirked back. "I suppose that's..." He ducked under a kunai that came from behind him. "Darn it, Itachi, I'm talking here!"

Itachi appeared from one of the bushes. "Ah, were you? Anyways, it's time for dinner. Tsunami invited us over again."

Naruto grinned. "Great! I love her cooking!"

--

Naruto slurped up his ramen that Tsunami had cooked for him. "Ah, this stuff's the best! Well, except when compared to Ichiraku's, anyways."

Tsunami smiled at him. "You say that every time."

Inari grinned. "So, you guys beat down any more of the Gato Corporation's thugs recently?"

Naruto shook his head. "What makes you think that we did it this time?"

Inari gave him a flat stare with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. Naruto sighed. "Yes... a couple of thugs were harassing a girl, so I taught them a lesson."

Tsunami sighed as she watched the others eat- Itachi had some salad, and Kisame had some sushi. "I can't believe they decided to come back and start bothering us again... we have the will to fight back now, of course, and they're not in total control of the country's income, but still..."

Itachi swallowed his food. "For now, it seems to be just minor thugs just bullying people around, and the occasional underground deal... however, it seems that some major deal involving some powerful 'merchandise' of questionable origin is about to come through here at noon tomorrow... if out of nothing other than curiosity, I intend to see what it is."

Naruto grinned. "I like this idea. I hope you don't mind if I come along."

Itachi nodded. "Of course. I judge you to be an upper jonin level shinobi, even without your 'special chakra'."

Inari gulped down some water. "So, where do I rank when it comes to a fight, then?"

Iachi glanced at the young boy. "Considering that you've only been training under me for the past year... I'd say lower chunin in taijutsu alone. Considerable progress considering that a genin could've beaten you in a fight when we met, and that you do not actually use jutsu."

Inari chuckled. "Wish I could, but even though I'm great when it comes to stuff like water walking, I mess up on the jutsu every time."

Naruto nodded. Naruto thought it was a weird condition- being able to control chakra through any means other than a handseal- but he supposed that that was a result of not being trained from a young age to do so. Kisame bit into a piece of sushi. "Still doesn't mean you're coming with us. Your mom would kill us if you got hurt. Your grandfather, too, if he wasn't out on business."

Inari lowered his head. "Yeah, I know..."

Tsunami smiled. "Glad you understand, Inari."

--

Naruto peered out from behind some crates and watched the scene in front of him. Itachi and Kisame were at two other locations along the wharf. He recognized the two people standing by the gangplank to the large and rather expensive looking ship- they were Gato's old henchmen, two swordsmen who were fairly proficient in... well, Naruto just knew that they were proficient. He remembered how many pieces they had left Tazuna's door in, and Tsunami claimed they did it in an instant.

Waiting at the bottom of the gang plank was some manner of young man, flanked by two bodyguards in standard suit and sunglasses attire. He had on a long, fur-lined coat, with fur on the cuffs as well, and no shirt underneath it. He had short, spiky blond hair similar to Naruto's own, and he was also wearing goggles like Naruto once had. However, this man's eyes were dark, and he certainly didn't have Naruto's charm- he had some cross between a grin and a sneer on his face as someone began walking down the gangplank.

Naruto's jaw practically dropped off his face when he saw who it was, a small box in one hand, an umbrella being used as a cane in the other. _It... it can't be! Didn't Zabuza... kill him? Even if his wounds weren't fatal, he fell into the ocean from atop a very tall bridge, for crying out loud!_

Indeed, on the gang plank stood none other than Gato himself, or at least a very convincing copy of him. The man at the bottom of the gang plank took a step forward. "You have the goods, old man?"

'Gato' grunted, and opened the box, revealing some kind of fruit. "Here you go, Besuke- the power of invisibility in the form of a fruit... that is, if you brought _him_."

'Besuke' nodded. "I've got him, alright. Bring him out, boys!"

Two of the guards, who were standing over by a crate, saluted, and gave the signal to someone else. That someone else was operating a crane, and it lowered down to the crate and caught the front of the thing and lifted it up, sliding the door open. Naruto's eyes widened when he saw that none other than Tazuna was inside, his hands bound together. Naruto felt a flare of haki come from a different section of the wharf, and he stifled a groan, settling for rolling his eyes. _Just great... just what we needed, Inari came along after all. Tsunami is going to kill us..._

The guards brought Tazuna in front of Gato and threw him to the ground. Tazuna's eyes widened when Gato put his umbrella-cane down forcefully on the ground in front of his face. Gato smirked. "Well, well, Mr. Bridge-Builder. Long time no see. How's life been in Wave without me?"

Tazuna looked up, and the fear was apparent on his face. "Y-you... you're dead..."

Naruto could tell by the slight tilt of Gato's head that he had most likely rolled his eyes under his shades. "News flash: _I'm not_. I never was. I've just kept my head down since my embarrassing near-death on your... what do you call it? That... Great _Naruto _Bridge." Naruto smiled to himself- he couldn't help but feel pride every time he heard that name. Despite the fact that there were no whirlpools or anything to justify a name like that, it was still an awesome name for a bridge. It didn't hurt that it was apparently named after himself.

Tazuna managed to get up on his knees, and was trying- with some effort, due to his weight- to get back on his feet. "So, why get revenge on me now? Why have you waited so long to make your presence known in Wave again?"

Gato chuckled. "To be honest, my... superior has only recently given me the ability to move freely. So, I only recently got control back of my company. But rest assured, I am back, and I am going to have my revenge on you." He walked behind Tazuna and used his cane to push him back onto the ground with surprising force, and then put his foot on his back. "You know... I wonder how much a man like you can take..."

Tazuna gulped. "H-how much... what?"

Gato sneered. "_Weight_, my man. _Weight_."

Tazuna didn't know how to react, until he felt a much greater pressure on his back. "Gah! What... how are you applying that much pressure?"

Gato gave a much more sinister chuckle. "Wouldn't you like to know..." Again, Tazuna felt an increase in the pressure. He likened it to a bit greater than what he could lift with his arms, but since it was being applied directly to his back... to be frank, it hurt. A lot. The kind of hurt that made him cry out in pain.

Naruto grit his teeth as he knew exactly what was about to happen when he felt Inari's haki spike again. _Great, here it comes..._

"SUPER-STRETCH PUNCH!" Gato looked up when all of a sudden a fist attached to an extremely long arm punched him in the face, sending him tumbling across the ground towards his bodyguards. The fist retracted back to Inari, who was now in the open. "Keep your dirty shoes off of my grandpa!"

All of Besuke's guards immediately moved into a defensive formation around Besuke. Besuke himself looked like he thought that hat he just saw was incredulous. "How did he stretch like that? That ability can't be human!"

Gato got back up, and Naruto was surprised to see his eyes, now that his sunglasses were gone- they were solid black with white pupils. He tensed- those eyes greatly reminded of... he could almost feel the cold from the imagined ice. Gato wiped his face on his sleeve, and growled when he saw blood. He shook his head and regained his composure before he got too angry. "Ah... I had heard that there was one who had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi in Wave... I didn't realize it was your own grandson, Tazuna."

Tazuna squirmed around, and looked at his only grandson. "Inari?! What are you doing here?!"

Inari grinned. "Well, right now I'm rescuing you!"

Gato snapped his fingers, and his two guards ran to his side. "Take care of this brat."

Besuke shook his head. "That won't be necessary. Guards! Remove this annoyance!"

His four guards suddenly dashed at Inari. Naruto smirked- Inari could take them out no problem, if they weren't shinobi. He watched as Inari charged towards the guards, primed for combat. One guard threw a punch, which Inari ducked under and then kicked him in the face by stretching his leg. He stretched it more than necessary as the man fell backwards, and then swung it at another guard, knocking him to the floor with excessive force. He jumped back as another guard kicked out at him, and then stretched out his arms and grabbed both guards' heads, and then smashed them together, knocking them out.

Besuke growled, while Gato smirked at the situation. "As I was saying, Zori, Waraji, take care of this brat."

Waraji sneered, which was accented by his scars and eyepatch. "With pleasure, boss." They dashed towards Inari, hands on the hilts of their katana. Just as they reached Inari, there was a flash of steel, and the sound of metal on metal. Their eyes widened- along with Inari's- when they saw Naruto standing inbetween the guards and Inari, his sword placed such that he was blocking both of their swords- which was a lot harder than it looked.

Naruto clicked his tongue as he pushed their blades back. "Inari, go rescue your grandfather. I'll take care of the swordsmen."

Inari nodded. and started to run around the two men. Zori did not look pleased with this development as he placed his sword back into its sheath quickly. "Oh no you don't, brat!" He drew his sword again at a speed faster than the untrained eye could see, and yet Naruto again appeared in front of him and blocked it.

Naruto smirked. "Please, I beat you guys when I was twelve. What makes you think I'm going to lose again?"

Zori grunted as he kept trying to push against Naruto's blade. _Why... can't I budge him?_ "You got lucky that time, brat. If it had been a straight-up fight, you'd be long dead."

Naruto's smirk seemed to take up more of his face than should be possible. "I'll give you that, but... I'm not a shinobi for nothing."

Zori began to grimace as he put more and more force into his blade. "You look... more like... a samurai to me."

Naruto chuckled at the thought. "Well, I hear the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages wore samurai armor... I guess it's just good armor."

--

Inari was running towards Gato, his fists dragging behind him. "Super Stretch..." Before he could finish his attack, Gato disappeared and then reappeared right in front of him. Inari, who hadn't been using his haki seriously, did not see the attack coming and was punched in the face. Gato's eyes widened as Inari's neck began stretching in the direction that his head was forced to go from the force of the punch, and then the neck snapped back, bringing Inari's head right back into Gato's face, causing his feet to drag on the ground as he was pushed back a few feet.

Gato checked his face for blood again- luckily, this time there wasn't any. "It seems we have a stalemate here... neither of us can really harm the other with our attacks. You're too stretchy, and I'm too heavy."

Inari smirked. "You want to test that out?" He charged Gato again, ready to punch him in the face.

Gato frowned. "Not really." He pointed his umbrella at Inari, and with the push of a button a blade came out of the tip. He slashed at Inari, but Inari dodged it and made a kick from the side, which stretched out and caught him in the side. Gato grunted as he was sent sliding a few feet. "Ow... darn it... looks like you can use haki... this is it for me, I'm out of here." In the blink of an eye, Gato was gone. Inari blinked again, possibly hoping it would bring him back.

"Where'd he go?"

--

Naruto smirked as he stared his opponents. Both were now weaponless- the blades of their swords had been shattered, the pieces lying around them. "I suggest you give up. I don't particularly like killing."

He noticed some movement on the ground, and looked down. Was his shadow getting... bigger? He looked up, and realized it wasn't exactly _his_ shadow that was getting bigger. He jumped out of the way as Gato landed where he had been standing, leaving a sizable dent in the ground. He snorted. "Zori, Waraji, we're leaving." They both nodded, and started making a mad dash towards the expensive boat. Naruto grit his teeth as Gato began walking back towards his ship. "What makes you think we're going to let you walk away, Gato?"

Gato looked back at him. "Ah, you're the brat who gave Zabuza that kunai he almost killed me with. Well... how about this, then, _jinchuriki_. I'm going to take Tazuna hostage, and then you're going to let me go. How's that for you?

Naruto furrowed his brow, and then dashed at Gato, sword raised. Gato merely smirked, and disappeared before Naruto reached him. Naruto's eyes widened in horror as he saw Gato appear by Tazuna, the blade on his umbrella pointed at the man's throat. "Hehe... just try it. I'm more than willing to kill him, you know."

Gato froze when a kunai was placed at his neck. "You know, you really shouldn't leave yourself open like that."

Gato looked behind himself and saw Itachi standing behind him. "Feh... looks like I lose, huh?" He smirked. "I don't think so!" He tried to step on Itachi's foot, but Itachi moved it so Gato just created a small crater instead. He then tried to elbow Itahi in the gut, but he already knew better than to let something as heavy as Gato hit him so he got out of the way. Gato then opened up his umbrella and jumped into the air towards his ship, and then he started floating lazily towards it. "Heh... almost a clean getaway. Almost there..."

"SUPER STRETCH STORMWIND!" Gato's eyes widened in horror as he was lifted up... and up... and up. Soon, everyone below looked like ants. He saw that... someone had knocked out Zori, Waraji, and Besuke, and grunted. _Well, here goes nothing..._ He began dropping as fast as a dropped rock, and then he slowed down to a halt again, and he repeated the process until he was almost to the boat. He was right above the boat when Naruto, Itachi, and Inari appeared below him. Itachi threw a kunai, and it pierced right through the umbrella, and caused Gato to fall straight to the ground regardless of his weight. He groaned as he sat up from his fast meeting with the deck. he looked up and gulped- both Naruto and Inari were cracking their knuckles.

"I... don't suppose you gentlemen would be interested in the power of invisibility, would you?"

Naruto smirked. "Don't bet your life on it."

--

Itachi shook his head. "He has some extremely powerful blocks put in his mind... there is nothing in his brain about what happened after he was attacked by Zabuza."

Naruto clicked his tongue. "Maaan. What a waste. So what do we do with him? Kill him like what should've happened to him a few years ago?"

Tazuna grunted. "That would only make us just as bad as him... I've got an idea, if you will. It will certainly give him the message to leave us alone."

--

Gato groaned. Where... was he? He felt pain in lower regions, and when he looked at himself and where he was, he realized that he was being given a massive wedgie by a crane on the wharf. He heard a coughing sound from his left, and was horrified at what he saw- Gaara, his lower half turned into sand, floating next to him, the fruit Gato had been trying to barter off in his hand. "Ah, wait, Gaara! Please don't kill me, I've got information for the Mistress!"

Gaara raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Oh?"

Gato nodded vigorously. "Yes! The Kyuubi's jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, is here in Wave right now!"

Gaara's eyes widened, the green in his eyes shrinking considerably. "Uzumaki, hmm?"

Gato kept nodding. "Yes! I... ran into him when I was about to give away the Suke Suke no Mi, and he intervened, along with the Gomu Gomu no Mi user and two others."

Gaara closed his eyes. "I see... Then, I will use you to lure them out and kill them. If it works, you may yet live, Gato."

Gato grinned. "Thank you! Thank you!"

--

**Kasek: **Sooooo..... yeah. When I thought of what a timeskip would be like, this is what came to mind. Inari with the Gomu Gomu no Mi was the first idea that hit me, followed by making Gato come back. Well, aside from near-samurai Naruto. I like him, but I get the feeling I'm going to run into the same problem I have in Kitsu Kitsu- I can't have him use it (the sword) on anyone who also doesn't have a sword because then he would kill them fairly quickly. Guess I'll have to resort to having him get it knocked out of his hands or have him only use it on opponents he needs it against or something.

I use "Super Stretch" for Inari's attacks because he doesn't know the fruit's name is "Gomu Gomu". Also, Super Stretch Stormwind is him using Gomu Gomu no Fuusen (Gum Gum Balloon) and blowing the air at his target.

I know that them staying in one area for a year is extremely unrealistic, but hey, it's fanfiction, I get a freebie like that every once in a while, right?

Sorry for those who were hoping for Sakura to get the Kilo Kilo no Mi~ There are still two fruit that I'm considering for her- one I'm pretty much set on, and the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi (Paw Paw Fruit) which I might give with fan support. If you think you have a better idea for a fruit for her to use, send it in with reasons why~ Original fruits from One Piece only please.

Lastly, I realize that Besuke looks like a fusion of Captain Kidd and Naruto, but meh, that's the first image that popped into my head.

...maybe I should've used a pure-human Absalom lookalike...


End file.
